Chapter 126 : Well. Done.
Chapter 126: Well. Done.
『It was His Majesty’s solemn command.』
“...I received the command.”
The connection was cut. Hero Hillan Cargill let out a deep sigh.
‘One mountain after another.’
Just walking the tightrope between the Demon King and the Empire was enough to make his head burst, yet now Hilderan had gotten involved as well.
From a general standpoint, Hilderan lending a hand was not a bad thing.
Hilderan was also a powerful nation, and the help they would provide to recover their abducted Crown Princess would never be insignificant.
Their participation clearly increased the chances of successfully subjugating the Demon King.
‘But.’
From the standpoint of Hero Hillan Cargill, who was a retainer of the Demon King, it was also true that there were more losses than gains.
‘They could have just sent an envoy, yet they insisted on going through me.’
They were likely trying to resolve things more easily by using his personal connection with the Third Prince, but at the same time there was also a shallow attempt to nail down the fact that he was Hilderan’s hero.
It was not a situation Hillan Cargill particularly wanted, but unless he intended to completely turn against Hilderan, he could not openly refuse.
‘And if Hilderan joins in and they really succeed.’
If everything were to end cleanly and decisively, that would be one thing, but the Berje he knew was never such a clean-cut Demon King.
If the hero’s march succeeded and he ended up on the brink of death, would he really let him go without resistance?
Honestly, he did not know.
‘The best-case scenario would be....’
The hero’s march would succeed, and before the Demon King could do anything to Hillan Cargill, his head would be cut off and he would die—but the possibility of that was exceedingly slim.
‘For now, I should talk to the Third Prince.’
In the end, he had no choice but to entrust himself to the flow for the time being, and he judged that consulting the Third Prince he had personal ties with would be better than going straight to the Emperor.
‘I’m supposed to be a hero who killed two Demon Kings, yet there isn’t a single thing I can do as I please.’
He wiped the complicated expression from his face and went outside.
Just like the usual Hillan Cargill.
* * *
In barely a little over two weeks, the Empire displayed astonishing momentum and completed the formation of the search parties in an instant.
They had drawn cooperation from Dormunt, Korzen, and Horton, and under the leadership of the imperial family, search parties dispatched by the Empire were sent out to each nation.
It was an incredible speed.
“The Empire’s drive is remarkable.”
“It’s only natural. His Majesty the Emperor himself is taking an interest in this matter. Not for succession to the throne, but for another reason.”
When Hillan gave him a look that said he did not understand, Martin whispered quietly.
“You’ve guessed it as well, haven’t you? That there’s a high chance the true culprit isn’t the Demon King of Dark Flame.”
“...You think so?”
“Of course. What Black Mage would ever confess about the Demon King they’re contracted with? The fact that they mortgage their souls is hardly a secret anymore.”
“Then why...?”
“Because that isn’t what’s important. Whichever Demon King dared to try to use the Empire, His Majesty finds the Demon King who keeps his tower hidden far more detestable than one who schemes with his tower exposed.”
“...!”
“Didn’t it work out well? Using this as a pretext, we drew in the help of the three kingdoms and the Hero Guild. The Empire will definitely find the Tower of Dark Flame.”
It was confidence—no, arrogance—born from the belief that once the tower was found, it could be dealt with at any time.
Yet there was no one who could say that belief was wrong.
And Hillan’s heart began to pound.
Because it felt like they really would discover the tower.
“Finding the Tower of Dark Flame comes first, and the real culprit will be uncovered after that.”
Even as they spoke, the search party advanced rapidly toward the Kingdom of Korzen. Along the way, Daphne Phillian joined them.
“How did you persuade Daphne Phillian?”
“The one I persuaded wasn’t Duke Daphne, but Brother Floyan.”
A search was different from a hero’s march.
There was no guarantee whether it would properly succeed or fail, and since the focus was on searching rather than combat, its overall strength was far inferior to that of a hero’s march.
Moreover, when the target of that search was the Tower of Dark Flame—already the site of two failures involving Hero Hillan Cargill and the Arkan Kingdom—and the location was the Ergest Mountains, dangerous enough to be called the most perilous on the continent, then—
The possibility of failure was higher than that of success. Because of that, most of the imperial princes did not wish to bear that risk unnecessarily.
It was better to join only once some degree of results had appeared. In the end, it was a contest over who would cut off the Demon King’s head.
Even so, the Third Prince showed his enthusiasm because he was that desperate, and because if he endured all those risks and succeeded, there was much to be gained.
And the Second Prince, without being confident from the start that the tower could be found, still placed his fork in the matter by hiring and attaching heroes, including Daphne Phillian.
From the Third Prince’s standpoint, there was no reason to refuse. He would have to share part of the credit, but in a situation where it was uncertain whether they would find anything at all, a top-class ranger like Daphne Phillian had to be accepted unconditionally.
“I see.”
Having understood, Hillan approached Daphne. Since they would have to be together for the time being anyway, there was no harm in building some rapport.
“We meet again.”
“It’s good to see you. But where is that person?”
“That person, you say?”
“The name was...I believe it was Pale. Red-haired....”
“You mean Sir Pale?”
“Yes, him. Isn’t he from the same Red Hawk?”
“No. He is simply someone who helps me separately.”
“I see.”
Hillan changed the subject to prevent the conversation from continuing to drift toward Berje.
“Come to think of it, back then, we only talked about my story. At the time, I didn’t know that you were also searching for the tower. If I had known, I would have asked you many things as well.”
In the past, after failing to search for the tower, Daphne Phillian had once sought out Hillan Cargill, another who had failed.
At that time, Hillan had cooperated with him as much as possible, but conversely, he had not properly heard Daphne’s story.
“If you wish, even now, I can tell you.”
“Please do.”
At Hillan’s agreement, Daphne took a map out from his clothes. It was a panorama of Ergest that he himself had traveled through and recorded.
“I dare say I’ve gone through almost every part, starting from here.”
He pointed out various sections of the mountain range. Hillan suppressed the cracking of his expression with superhuman patience.
‘...He confirmed the location of the tower?’
Because his finger had passed precisely over the place where the tower stood.
“Are you saying that you didn’t find the tower in these places?”
“For now, yes.”
‘The tower is definitely here. And yet you couldn’t find it?’
That made no sense. For that to make sense—
‘The Demon King must have hidden something.’
Was it possible to hide a tower?
Such a tower was something he had never heard of nor seen.
The Empire and the Demon King.
The balance in Hillan’s wavering heart tilted slightly toward the Demon King’s side.
Their conversation continued.
* * *
After going around in circles, they ultimately returned to Hortonwork.
Among the cities of the Kingdom of Korzen, it was the one closest to Ergest. Naturally, if they were to climb the mountains, they had no choice but to gather here.
“Nice to meet you. I am the commander of the White Weasel Corps and the person in charge from the Kingdom of Korzen, Belof Korzen.”
The White Weasel Corps was one of the ranger units the Kingdom of Korzen took pride in.
They were searchers who had bases in many northern cities, including Hortonwork, exploring Ergest or subjugating monsters.
It was the most optimal lineup Korzen could assemble to find the tower.
“I didn’t expect to see Korzen’s Second Prince here.”
“The task of finding the Demon King’s tower is something that must be done. Of course, I had to step forward.”
That was not all. One knight order, two mage corps, and even two additional ranger units aside from the Brown Weasel Corps.
Nearly three hundred elite troops clearly demonstrated just how desperately they, too, wanted to find the Tower of Dark Flame.
And that resolve soon turned into action.
A mere three days.
After briefly shaking off their travel fatigue in Hortonwork, the allied search force immediately set foot into Ergest.
* * *
Search operations that began simultaneously across three kingdoms.
Berje could not know about all three locations. But from Hortonwork alone was an exception.
That was because Hero Hillan Cargill and the Red Hawk Mercenary Company included in the search force were his hands and feet.
And Berje decided to devote more attention to the Hortonwork search force than to any other.
It was the closest to the tower, and because his target, Martin Zespine, was there.
“The Third Prince has arrived in Hortonwork.”
The scale was no small matter.
Three hundred from Korzen’s royal army, and on top of that, three hundred from the imperial army. There were even fifty heroes among them, including Daphne Phillian.
Considering that they were not ordinary soldiers but all special units such as knights, rangers, and mages, it was more dangerous than the Arkan search force Cain had led before.
“Wouldn’t Daphne actually be good for us? Daphne already came all the way here once, confirmed there was nothing, and went back.”
“That would be the best-case scenario.”
Normally, people rarely searched the same place twice. Still, complacency was forbidden.
“There are exactly two things we need to do.”
One was to obstruct the search force from approaching the tower.
The other was to separate the Third Prince from the group and make him meet Kaede.
“Easy enough.”
The dwarf snorted.
“If we blast them all with mana cannons, they’ll panic and scatter! Prince? Noble? In a rain of bombardment, status like that doesn’t matter! They’ll be too busy saving their own lives! Human nature will show itself and they’ll all fall apart!”
“Rejected.”
The Third Prince was not weak, but he was not overwhelmingly strong either. Before the firepower poured out by hundreds of mana cannons, there was a far greater chance that his guts would spill out of his body than that he would break away from the group.
“An avalanche! Cause an avalanche!”
Ernan shouted.
“We’ve already caused plenty of avalanches. Unless they’re idiots, they’ll have prepared countermeasures.”
In fact, Arkan had dealt with avalanches splendidly.
“Then we just make it bigger and flashier so they can’t prepare for it.”
As she crossed her arms, four elves lined up behind her. The water spirits they summoned took the exact same posture.
“I’ll show you the power of a Spirit Sorceress of Darkness.”
“If the avalanche is too big, it’s no different from a mana cannon.”
“We can use spirits to find the Third Prince buried in the snow more quickly.”
“Not bad.”
Ernan’s method was set aside as an option for now.
At that moment, another princess raised her hand.
“Chimera. Destroy. Annihilate.”
“I told you, we can’t annihilate them.”
“Everyone, prince.”
“You’re saying we kill everyone except the prince?”
Lavinia nodded.
“There’s one very big flaw in that.”
“What?”
“You haven’t even properly made a chimera yet.”
“...!”
They had not even finished a golem yet. Naturally, there was no way a chimera—pushed far back in priority—had been created.
“And let me say this in advance. We can’t inflict too much damage on them.”
It might have been complacency, but he could not ignore the scenario where the Third Prince might be persuaded.
A bigger failure would only shrink his standing.
“Monsters.”
“We will attack them using monsters.”
At this very moment, outside, Krutu and the Peul Orcs were diligently searching for monster habitats and territories.
“Then Cher?”
“You’re saying we capture them using Cher?”
“Yeah. Fast.”
“That’s even more unacceptable.”
Cher was practically the symbol of Lavinia Arkan herself. If Cher appeared, it would immediately reveal that Lavinia was here.
If that happened, the worst possible situation could unfold, where Arkan would not merely search for a runaway princess but would end up participating in a hero’s march.
The relationship between the Zespine Empire and the Arkan Kingdom was bad, but humans had a tendency to unite when facing an external enemy like the Demon King.
“Minimize casualties while making only the Third Prince break away. That’s difficult.”
Ernan let out a groaning sound, almost like a whimper.
“Demon King.”
At that moment, Ellena, who had been listening quietly, raised her hand.
“...Um.”
“What is it?”
“Can’t you just step in yourself, Demon King?”
“Me?”
“He’s the Empire’s prince anyway. Wouldn’t it be strange at all if the Demon King kidnapped him?”
“Unfortunately, not this time.”
Under normal circumstances, it might have been possible.
But Daphne Phillian was there right now. A hero most sensitive to demonic energy. In fact, he detected it even when Berje revealed just the slightest trace of demonic energy.
“And he has even met me in my Pale state. That means he knows my aura.”
Infiltrating as Pale or infiltrating as the Demon King—either way was problematic.
“There’s an even bigger problem. Not only Daphne, but Hillan must absolutely recognize me.”
At Hapstrain Gorge, no one had been able to detect Vairif. Hillan Cargill himself had not noticed either, but he had said that as a hero who killed two Demon Kings, he possessed keener sensory perception than other heroes.
In other words, an action taken back then to create justification had now turned into a noose tightening around his neck.
“Then what about using magic?”
“You haven’t even properly learned magic yet.”
“Not me—Teacher Charlotte. She’s a mage with six sigils.”
“That would be difficult.”
Kaede voiced her opposition.
“The Empire may revere knights over mages, but their magical forces are not weak either. The mage corps accompanying my older brother this time is the Platinum Shield Mage Corps. They specialize above all else in protection.”
Every single one of them was a mage with four engravings, and their commander was a mage with six engravings.
It was power befitting the name of the Empire.
“That won’t work.”
Then, Lavinia spoke up again.
“Just everything.”
“Avalanche first, then send in the monsters, then kidnap the Third Prince? Do it all at once instead of separately?”
“No.”
“Include the mana cannons too? If it’s as Kaede said, they should be able to protect the Third Prince sufficiently.”
“Yes.”
Lavinia nodded vigorously.
“...How in the world are you understanding those short words?”
“You can’t understand this? It’s simple.”
“It’s not simple at all.”
“For someone who calls himself a Dark Elf, your language interpretation skills are lacking.”
“Doesn’t the fact that language interpretation is even required strike you as strange?”
Berje ignored Gordon’s grumbling.
‘Not bad.’
Looked at individually, there was no answer, but if everything came crashing down like a storm, wouldn’t cracks inevitably form?
‘And if even after all that there’s still no opening, I can just step in myself....’
Fine.
“Then we’ll do it that way.”
“Good?”
“Yes, good idea. Well done.”
Lavinia held out her hand.
“Demon King.”
“Do you think obtaining the byproducts of a Demon King is easy?”
Lavinia stared intently at Berje.
For a moment, he barely managed to suppress the urge to curse.
Come to think of it, if he gave her very small things and continued to make use of her, it was a profitable deal.
Lavinia’s utility value was enormous.
“If this goes well, I’ll give you a single scale.”
“A scale?”
Berje released his demonic energy. Black scales rose up over skin that had looked no different from a human’s.
“Waaah...!”
She reached out her hand. At that moment, the scales reverted back into human skin.
“Give.”
Like a golden goblin who had just lost a treasure right before her eyes, she made a tearful face.
“I said I’d give it to you if this goes well.”
Lavinia’s gaze swept over everyone present.
She crossed her arms and put on the sternest expression she could manage.
“Do. It. Well.”
Each syllable pronounced clearly, one by one.
She pointed at her own eyes with her fingers, then directed them toward everyone present.
I’m watching.