Chapter 133 : Solution
Chapter 133: Solution
Ahem.
Zetoson, a merchant of the Golden Moon Merchant Company, brewed coffee while humming as he always did.
He savored the bitter yet fragrant aroma.
“Life really was something you had to live long enough to see.”
They said life was full of twists and turns.
Back when he ran a small magic shop in Arkan, he had swindled a dim-witted dwarf and sold defective goods at a high price.
That would have been fine, but he got caught, and of all people, that dwarf turned out to be a princess of the Berfht Kingdom.
Naturally, all hell broke loose. He barely kept his life, but he was expelled from the merchant association.
Still, when one was desperate, a path revealed itself, and he managed to get a job here, at the Golden Moon Merchant Company.
His current life was actually better than before. Unlike those days when he lived hand to mouth, enormous bonuses rolled in depending on his performance.
‘Still, what exactly is this merchant company?’
At first, it traveled across the entire continent purchasing elf slaves. When that ended, it moved on to buying all kinds of ores. Copper, manganese, iron, orichalcum, mithril, even mana stones.
It kept buying endlessly, as if money sprang from nowhere. No matter how he thought about it, the expenses far outweighed the profits.
Even so, it did not seem to have any intention of selling them, which made it all the more ironic.
‘Well, as long as I get paid.’
His job was to haggle as hard as possible and drive prices down. A portion of the remaining profit became his bonus, so it was a win-win for both sides.
Knock knock-
“Mr. Zetoson. I’ve brought today’s newspaper.”
“Thank you.”
“Not at all.”
A lovely elf smiled with her eyes. At that fresh sight, the corners of his mouth naturally lifted.
She was one of the slaves he had purchased, but well, what of it?
She was beautiful, kind-hearted, hardworking, and now emancipated, a commoner.
Having personal, impure thoughts was, perhaps, only natural.
“Let’s see.”
Ahem, clearing his throat, Zetoson slowly unfolded the newspaper.
Reading the kingdom newspaper published every morning was part of his daily routine.
“Hm?”
As he opened it, his brows furrowed.
Normally, the newspaper would be filled with a jumble of miscellaneous information, but today, a single piece of news dominated it.
【The Third Prince of the Zespine Empire, Martin Zespine: “At last, we have found the Tower of Dark Flame....”】
【Prince Belof Korzen of the Kingdom of Korzen: “I am glad to have the honor of uncovering humanity’s calamity....”】
【Zespine and Korzen, massive losses suffered by the two alliances, but in the end, the tower was found....】
【The Tower of Dark Flame. The location spoken of by the prince and the royal prince is....】
【The Tower of Dark Flame that everyone wondered about, the tower was not at the summit?】
【The great hero, Daphne Phillian, where was he? The light of success, what lay hidden behind it....】
【The search party that found the tower at the risk of their lives, at its center was Daphne Phillian....】
No matter how many pages he turned, it was the same.
【Watton Colo and his assault unit, the Golden Shield. They rescued the 3rd Prince of Gaina. Does the Gold-Steel Tower also follow the cold? Where was the 3rd prince....】
【The Lust Demon King of the Pirate Archipelago, signs of collusion with pirates?】
This was about all he could barely find beyond that.
“The end times, huh. No matter how reckless those butcher pirates are, surely they wouldn’t crawl into bed with a Demon King?”
Tsk, clicking his tongue, he shifted his thoughts back to the Demon King of Dark Flame.
“...The Tower of Dark Flame.”
Not long ago, the empire had played the media, declaring it would find the Tower of Dark Flame. Hadn’t they said they would definitely locate it in alliance with the three northern nations?
On the Korzen side, with the Third Prince of the Empire, Hero Hillan Cargill, and Daphne Phillian joining in, it had drawn even more attention.
The continent had been burning hot with excitement, and Zetoson had been interested as well.
To sell supplies, that was. But when word came that the empire and the various kingdoms’ direct merchant companies had stepped in, he had eventually given up.
“But they really succeeded?”
Even while harboring the hope of “Could it be possible?”, he had kept failure in mind because there had already been two precedents of failing to find the Tower of Dark Flame.
But now, that precedent had been shattered.
“So, whether it’s the Demon King of Dark Flame or whatever the hell it is, he’s finished now.”
The empire had been grinding its teeth over it.
If they were going to hide it, they should have hidden it properly to the very end.
“Well, it’s got nothing to do with me.”
Even if he wanted to supply materials, the empire left no room for foreign merchant companies to interfere in the hero’s march.
Zetoson shrugged his shoulders.
“This Demon King made quite a racket at first, but now he’ll just disappear.”
Zetoson turned to the next page of the newspaper.
“Damn it, it’s a pie in the sky.”
From start to finish, it was nothing but content about the Demon King of Dark Flame and Daphne Phillian, so in irritation he crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash can.
* * *
“...What kind of nonsense is that?”
Berje let out a hollow laugh.
After the regression, and after descending upon Arein. For the first time, he had poured everything out.
He had squeezed out even the parts that his interference power did not permit, drawing forth immense destructive power, but an equally great shock had crashed down on Berje.
That backlash had been unconsciousness.
Just before losing consciousness, he trusted Ernan and made a request.
He asked her to definitely kill Daphne Phillian.
When he awoke, she said she had fulfilled that request. She said Daphne Phillian was dead.
So he had been relieved. But then why?
“Why do I have to hear this dogshit about the tower’s location being revealed?”
『...It could not be helped.』
『Before you killed Daphne Phillian, he had already handed over a recording orb that documented the tower’s location to the prince of Korzen. His close aides all confirmed it.』
『In that situation, you could not interrogate them, and you could not exactly kill them all either, could you?』
It was only natural. Once you laid a hand on them, you would have to silence the entire Kingdom of Korzen through massacre. Even if you had the ability to do that, if afterward only the imperial army returned alive, how would the world look upon it?
But when you became the very person who suffered the injustice that came from that “naturalness,” the story changed.
How much had he done to hide the tower?
How much effort had he put into it?
Berje called Ernan.
“Didn’t you say you handled it perfectly?”
“...I thought so.”
After burying the Demon King in the snow, she immediately infused magical power into the water vapor. Then she searched for Daphne Phillian.
People were around him as he wandered within it, but she prevented them from meeting. Until she found Hillan Cargill and brought him over, Daphne Phillian wandered alone dozens of times over.
That was why she thought it was perfect.
But to think that he had marked the tower’s location and already handed it over to the prince of Korzen before she made her move.
In that brief window of time between Ernan burying Berje and taking action.
“...I’m sorry.”
“...No, it’s fine. As you said, you did your best.”
Rage surged up.
But even more than that, worry came first.
‘What do I do now?’
The empire would come crashing in soon.
Would it be only the empire? Hilderan had been sharpening its knives for a long time as well.
A chilling scene of thousands upon thousands of hero’s march troops attacking the tower rose before his eyes.
Balraf Dislode, Rozel Charnte, Ralph Schmitz, and stars such as Gillian Aint charged into the tower from the front lines.
‘Fire!’
‘Wipe them all out! Khehehehehe!’
A dwarf’s shout flickered like an auditory hallucination. Hundreds of mana cannons spewed flames.
But Ralph Schmitz’s shield stood firm. Balraf Dislode’s sword crushed everything. The hero’s march took heavy losses from the surprise strike, but it was impossible to imagine them being annihilated by something like mana cannons.
From the start, the purpose of mana cannons was to eliminate large quantities of troops, not a small number of the strong.
‘This is a massive golem made of orichalcum!’
After that, golems appeared, and once again they grappled. The result was, of course, defeat.
The heroes who broke through the first floor ascended to the second. The chimera legion created by Lavinia Arkan welcomed them.
‘Princess?’
‘Huh?’
‘What are you doing right now!’
‘...Crafting?’
‘My goodness, to think you’re helping the Demon King.’
‘A transaction.’
‘Transaction or not, right now...haah.’
A scene formed of a conversation between the airheaded Lavinia and Rozel Charnte.
The heroes were enraged at the fact that a princess was helping the Demon King, but Rozel Charnte’s defense and her status as the princess of Arkan barely saved her.
The continuing 3rd floor, the 3rd floor would be completely empty. Rather than leaving only Ellena or Kaede separately on the 3rd floor, fighting together with the elves on the 4th floor at least had a higher probability.
And then, the 4th floor.
‘Welcome to the Demon King’s Tower, everyone. I am one of the Four Heavenly Kings who serves the Demon King, the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness.’
Even in a dire situation, the princess of Hilderan would not lose her smile.
‘...A knight who serves the Demon King, the Dark Knight.’
At Ernan’s urging, Kaede would also play the role of one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Having sworn loyalty, her disposition meant she would fight hard for the time being.
Ellena also felt gratitude toward Berje, so she would do her utmost as well.
But the gap in overall power was overwhelming. In the end, they would be defeated, and the princesses would be captured by the heroes and returned to their respective countries.
‘...Princess? My goodness.’
‘...Right now, I am the Spirit Sorceress of Darkness.’
‘Why are you helping the Demon King!’
‘Everyone has their own circumstances, after all.’
And their deviation would be quietly buried. For the honor of each nation.
Berje pondered whether he should be on the 4th floor in that situation, or at the summit.
But it held little meaning. Either way, he could not envision a winning scenario.
To begin with, the tower he had designed was still incomplete. It was meant to create unforeseen variables for humans and maximize their effect, but if faced with overwhelming power that simply crushed everything, then all of it became meaningless.
‘....’
His mind turned completely blank. No suitable alternative came to mind.
...My lord.
...Your Majesty.
“...Demon King, are you alright?”
Ah.
He snapped out of his thoughts at Ernan’s voice.
“...What did you say?”
The communication was still ongoing, and Martin was waiting for an answer.
『For now, since I am in the same boat as you, I will try to delay the empire’s hero’s march as much as possible.』
『In that time, can you stop Hilderan?』
Certainly, dealing with the empire and Hilderan at the same time was far more difficult than handling them separately.
“Is there a way?”
『What comes to mind immediately is only a feint, but if we deliberate, it is not entirely impossible.』
Even if the tower had been found, the hero’s march would not begin immediately. It was possible to delay the preparation process and impose restrictions.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
The contact was cut off. Berje summoned all the tower’s personnel to the 5th floor.
“What do you think we should do?”
“I’ll smash them all to pieces with mana cannons!”
The firepower fanatic replied as usual.
“If the Third Prince blocks the empire, then what’s left is Hilderan.”
“Right.”
Zespine was a later problem. First, they had to stop Hilderan.
“As the Crown Princess of Hilderan, how do you think Hilderan will act?”
“They will go all out.”
Hilderan’s pride had been wounded far too deeply.
Their Crown Princess had been abducted, and even after sending a hero’s march, they had failed.
While they were still chewing on that failure, this time even the 13th Princess had been abducted as well.
The king of Hilderan had not forgotten that humiliation.
And above all else—
“Father will definitely try to save me.”
His excessive obsession with Ernan would never cool. No matter the means, no matter the cost, he would try to rescue her.
“It will be more than Hillan Cargill’s hero’s march.”
“Yes. Since there was a failure, they will try to be even more certain this time.”
If there was any consolation, it was that one of Hilderan’s most reliable cards was Hillan Cargill.
“What if Hillan Cargill were to betray them midway?”
Hillan Cargill was bound to become the core of Hilderan’s hero’s march. If someone like him were to deliberately lead the hero force into a trap and annihilate them all—
“That method is not good.”
Gordon objected.
“Hero Hillan Cargill is extremely important to the Demon King’s current plan. Until now, the relationship has barely remained undiscovered, but if everyone except Hillan Cargill dies, suspicion will inevitably arise.”
Only one person surviving? No matter how strong Hillan Cargill was, it would be impossible not to draw suspicion.
And letting several survive together would greatly increase the risk of Hillan’s betrayal being exposed.
Of course, protecting the tower was more important than Hillan, but—
“Defeating them like that will only work once or twice. And they will never stop after just one or two failures.”
“...That’s true.”
In the end, the core of a hero’s march consisted of two objectives: rescuing the abducted royalty and killing the Demon King.
If priorities were assigned, it was obviously the former. Especially from Hilderan’s perspective, having had its Crown Princess abducted, it was unconditional.
‘Wait a moment....’
Berje tilted his head.
“...Wouldn’t it be enough to solve the fundamental problem of Hilderan being able to find the tower in the first place?”
“The fundamental problem?”
“Yes. If we remove the reason they have to find the tower, Hilderan would no longer have to risk their lives clinging to it.”
Wouldn’t they naturally withdraw?
“But if we’re talking about the fundamental reason....”
As if she had realized something, Ernan’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
“...No, right?”
“That’s probably correct.”
Berje drove the nail into her assumption.
“Ernan Hilderan, Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Hilderan. It’s time to return to the kingdom.”
“...Me.”
Ernan’s pupils trembled.
“You’re sending me back to the kingdom?”
Her voice turned cold.