Chapter 110 : Black Mage
Chapter 110: Black Mage
The current Emperor’s succession policy was, quite literally, wild.
As long as it was not discovered.
As long as it did not come to light.
Anything was permitted in order to become the Crown Prince. That was because he himself had become Emperor that way.
Three Empresses, and six concubines.
From them were born eleven Imperial Princes and eighteen Imperial Princesses.
Among the twenty-nine direct members of the imperial family, only four were judged to have any real chance of aiming for the imperial throne.
The First Imperial Prince and First Imperial Princess born of the First Empress.
The Second Imperial Prince born of the Second Empress.
And the Third Imperial Prince born of the Third Empress.
By default, the concubines could not covet the authority held by the Empresses, and naturally, the children of the concubines gathered beneath the children of the Empresses according to their own interests.
The Eighth Imperial Prince was one of the few imperial family members who chose the Third Imperial Prince.
The fact that he had died meant that the full-scale succession dispute for the imperial throne had begun to open its curtain.
『So you’re telling me to meet the Third Imperial Prince and build a relationship with him?』
“Yes.”
『That’s a terrible move.』
『Compared to the First Imperial Prince, the Second Imperial Prince, or the First Imperial Princess, the Third Imperial Prince has a weak foundation. Trying to gain the Third Imperial Prince’s favor only to earn the hatred of the others is about the worst possible scenario there is.』
『To begin with, there’s no way the Empire would look favorably on someone like me, an Argan of the Hero Guild, intervening in the imperial family.』
『If it were you, Demon King, I think you would have told me to try contacting the First or Second Imperial Prince, who have much higher odds. Even so, the reason you specifically mentioned the Third Imperial Prince… is it because of the Ninth Imperial Princess?』
Hero Hillan Cargill asked and answered himself as he arrived at the conclusion on his own. This was why it was easy to talk to smart ones.
“Then?”
『I don’t know if it’s appropriate for me, a hero, to say this, but I’d like to ask you to act like a Demon King.』
Act like a Demon King.
He never imagined he would hear something like that from a hero who had killed not one, but two Demon Kings.
Still, it was not wrong. Berje Deias had no real need to grant Kaede’s request. It was clearly a foolish decision driven by sentiment.
If things went wrong, the value of the card named Hillan Cargill would drop. No matter how much he was a hero with a guaranteed future, once he fell out of favor with the Empire, things would never be the same.
And if, by any chance, the Empire discovered his involvement?
That would mean war. The Empire would scour the Ergest Mountains with eyes blazing.
“It’s not just Kaede’s problem.”
『What… don’t tell me you’re seriously thinking of placing the Third Imperial Prince on the throne?』
“If possible.”
『It’s impossible.』
Hillan’s tone was firm.
『The Emperor is maintaining silence. In the end, he has no choice but to rely on the support of the Empresses, and while the Aincheil Marquis House is indeed one of the most prestigious families in the Empire, its momentum has long since waned.』
『Their authority has faded. They lack the power to enthrone the Third Imperial Prince as Emperor.』
“What if you lend your strength?”
『A terrible move. The Empire will never welcome intervention from the Hero Guild. If anything, the Emperor himself might step in and cast us aside.』
『If there’s one saving grace, it’s that the other imperial family members won’t dare touch the Third Imperial Prince recklessly. There’s no reason to deliberately make an enemy of me.』
Yes, that was exactly the level Kaede was hoping for. An extremely realistic approach.
But Berje Deias did not want to do that.
The moment Kaede brought up the Empire’s succession to the throne.
The moment he decided to intervene.
The sleeping spark ignited.
The pride of a Demon King, unbearably arrogant in his previous life.
The self-loathing toward himself for having died to something as trivial as a human Empire, and for having secretly grown fearful because of it.
They became kindling and blazed fiercely.
If he was going to stir things up anyway to uncover the connection between Jason Kokemundo and the Empire.
It would be better, if anything, to head in a direction where the Empire was destroyed as much as possible.
『The fact that even the Eighth Imperial Prince has died means they’ve begun to take action. The Third Imperial Prince had no future to begin with.』
“The Third Imperial Prince can be kept alive. What you should be thinking about is what comes after.”
『What do you mean by that?』
“A variable will arise. Something that will leave them with no room to concern themselves with the Third Imperial Prince.”
『Don’t tell me, Demon King, you’ve already—』
“No. This is simply the natural course of events.”
Something that had happened before the regression.
* * *
He had said it so often it made his mouth sore, but Berje Deias before the regression had been exceedingly arrogant.
He had no particular interest in human affairs, nor any need to. He did everything the way he wanted, as he wished. There was no need for caution.
But everything changed when he kidnapped the Crown Prince of the Zespine Empire.
As if to say that his uninterrupted rise until then had not been due to his own greatness, heroes and imperial troops poured in without rest.
The Tower grew weaker by the day, and Berje was enraged. He wanted to march straight into the Empire and sweep everything away, but he was barely managing to defend the Tower, and as one who had to guard the summit, he could not descend to the lower floors.
So the choice he ultimately made was spies.
In order to sow discord among the Empire’s humans and shake it to its roots, he sought to understand the Empire.
He spent an enormous amount of demonic power to summon demons and monsters and drove them straight into the Empire.
Looking back now, it had been nothing short of idiotic.
Countless monsters and demons were ground to dust, and the Tower’s situation worsened even further. Ironically, the reason demonic power could still be supplied steadily was because the humans, enraged by the monsters’ actions, attacked the Tower even more fiercely.
In any case, though monsters and demons died like grains of sand, there were gains. The Empire’s political landscape, its enemy states, its nobles, its imperial family, the Empire’s, the Empire’s, the Empire’s.
Berje could say with confidence that in this damned dimension called Arein, the nation he knew best was the Zespine Empire.
That was why he had tried to avoid entangling himself with the Empire as much as possible, but thoughts were always liable to change.
‘There is Kaede Zespine.’
He did not know whether he could form a connection with the Third Imperial Prince through her, but either way, there was a thread linking him to the Empire.
And through Hillan Cargill, the events that would unfold within the Empire lay in his mind.
‘Using these to devour the Empire’s future….’
Was it really impossible?
Of course, the future had already diverged greatly from before.
Berje himself had filled the Tower not with monsters or demons, but with elves and heroes, Draxon was dead, and Reina had not become indebted to Jason Kokemundo.
And above all, Berje did not necessarily desire success.
Success would be nice. But if everything had to be staked on it, if the risk was overwhelmingly great, then success was not strictly necessary.
The process alone would shake the Empire, and differences would arise compared to the Empire he had known before the regression.
Weakening the most formidable enemy alone held meaning.
Originally, an enemy’s enemy was an ally, and even better was when they destroyed each other.
‘A succession dispute that would have ended as a two-way clash between the First Imperial Prince and the Second Imperial Prince in the past….’
What if it were turned into a three-way struggle?
And what if that sparked an outright civil war and engulfed the Empire in the flames of conflict?
‘Just thinking about that….’
It was thrilling beyond measure.
“Here it is.”
Kaede handed over a necklace.
“It’s a necklace my mother gave me. Only my older brother and I possess one, so it will be more than sufficient proof for him.”
“Alright.”
“But if you take this with you, won’t that make him even more suspicious?”
“That doesn’t mean you can go yourself.”
“...That’s true.”
If her heart had its way, she would want to go. But she knew her own situation all too well.
“Is it really necessary for you to go in person? Wouldn’t it be enough to just tell Hero Hillan—.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle it myself.”
“...What are you planning?”
Kaede muttered anxiously.
“Don’t worry. No matter what happens, I’ll make sure at least your brother’s life is spared.”
“...Do you know that makes me even more uneasy?”
“Does it?”
Berje shrugged his shoulders.
It was none of his concern.
* * *
At present, the Empire was in a time of upheaval.
If one wanted to stir up chaos, now was the moment, and even if one wanted to turn everything upside down, now was the time.
A few years later, once the First Imperial Prince eliminated all the other imperial family members and became Crown Prince, the Empire would become a single unified body and an even more formidable enemy.
“To think you’d come all the way to the Hero Guild yourself. I really can’t deal with you, Pale-nim.”
Hillan greeted him while shaking his head in disbelief.
“Would you like to go inside the headquarters?”
“I have no desire to set foot in a place reeking with disgusting bastards.”
“You managed to make it here safely.”
“This is still outside, at least.”
“Either way, the Hero Guild will probably be investigating you, Pale-nim.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
If they could find something about the identity of Pale that had fallen from the sky, they were free to try.
“By the way, what excuse did you use to slip out?”
“You may not know this, but Argan are originally required to select five guild branches across the continent and make inspection tours once every half year.”
“Hasn’t the Empire been visited more than enough already?”
The northern snowfields were the Demon King’s territory, and naturally, there was a Hero Guild branch in the nearby domain of the Chernian Frontier Count.
“The Empire is vast. The distance between the imperial capital and Chernian easily exceeds that of an entire country.”
“How many people?”
“Normally, one must move with attendants, but I’m not just an ordinary Argan, am I?”
The advantage of being a Star, the hero who had killed two Demon Kings, showed itself here.
Who would dare harm Hillan?
“The stares are intense.”
“There are many who have taken an interest in you.”
“None of my concern.”
The two soon left the city.
“But is it truly the Third Imperial Prince?”
“Yes.”
“This isn’t right. If it were to fail—.”
“Then the Third Imperial Prince’s reputation in your Empire would be finished.”
“You know that, and you’re still doing this?”
“The First and Second Imperial Princes have nothing to lose. That’s why they don’t need your help.”
“Which is why not intervening at all is the best option.”
“If it succeeds, you become the Emperor’s godfather.”
“If it fails, I die.”
“You won’t die. At worst, you’ll probably just end up making a humiliating contract with the victor.”
“...So you have no intention of changing your mind.”
“Wasn’t coming all this way answer enough?”
“Fine. Then what exactly is the incident you mentioned?”
“The Empire is vast. There are many regions that are nominally imperial territory but not yet completely theirs. The snowfields are a prime example.”
“Yes.”
“Now there’s only the Frost Demon King, but in the past, many Demon Kings built Towers within the Empire. And they collapsed as they died, one after another.”
“There’s no one who doesn’t know that.”
“No, you don’t know it properly. Over a thousand years, eleven Towers passed through the Empire, and five of them were built in the same location.”
“Hapstrain Gorge.”
“So you know. Do you know why?”
“Because mana is abundant there, isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
Hapstrain Gorge had many monsters, but it was not a place untouched by human hands like Ergest.
Yet it was a place where mana overflowed conspicuously. There was no human who disliked a place rich in mana. Nor was there a Demon King.
The more mana there was in the surroundings, the more the Tower could convert into demonic power.
That as many as five Demon Kings had chosen Hapstrain Gorge as their grave was by no means a coincidence.
“The moment a Demon King dies, the Tower collapses. Unable to reduce interference power and no longer supplied with demonic power, monsters and demons weaken. Naturally, they end up being subjugated.”
But.
“Demonic power doesn’t disappear completely.”
“It doesn’t disappear?”
“Demonic power is fundamentally different from Arein. It doesn’t mix with mana or become diluted. It simply scatters in all directions and drifts.”
But when that happened five times, a miracle born of coincidence was created.
“So what you’re saying is....”
“It means that beneath Hapstrain Gorge, the demonic power gathered by five Demon Kings is buried.”
“So you’re going there to take it? What does that have to do with the Empire’s problems erupting—.”
“Shut up and listen. It has everything to do with it.”
At Berje’s sharp warning, Hillan closed his mouth.
“Before, I didn’t know that.”
No one probably did. Usually, when a Demon King died, the demonic power dispersed across the entire dimension. It was a miracle-like phenomenon achieved because five Demon Kings had settled in the same place and chosen it as their grave.
Berje Deias before the regression had learned that fact far too late.
And after the regression, even knowing it, he couldn’t take it.
That place was imperial territory, and building a Tower within the Empire just to obtain that one thing carried far too much risk.
And after that, to be honest, he had forgotten about it.
“So I didn’t know there’d be an impudent human living there, absorbing that demonic power.”
“...A human?”
Hillan blinked.
“You’re saying there’s a human there?”
“Yes. There’s a Black Mage there, absorbing that demonic power and growing stronger.”
A peculiar one who used demonic power without forming a contract with a Demon King.
The people of the world believed Lavinia Arkan to be the human most versed in demonic power, but perhaps that one was similar.
“Originally, it would take a bit more time before he went berserk, but I plan to accelerate it.”
“But even so, he’s just a single human, isn’t he?”
“What if that human is a necromancer?”
And on top of that.
“What if he’s turned the monsters of the gorge into undead one by one and formed a legion?”
“My heavens.”
“Normally, they’d submit a request to the Hero Guild and have them subjugated. But the Emperor will choose a different method. He’ll issue subjugation orders to the imperial family.”
That was a test.
A qualification test to determine who was most fit to be Emperor.
Those who excel surged ahead, and those who fell behind were eliminated.
“I intend to make use of this.”
Berje curled his lips into a sinister smile.