Chapter 168 : Blueprint
Chapter 168: Blueprint
It was a trap.
Jason stopped his hand just as it was about to reach for the communication orb.
What he had attacked was, after all, the Black Toad Merchant Company. And the 1st Prince.
If he contacted them in a fit of anger?
They would think there was a connection. Perhaps they had already committed the act while keeping that possibility in mind.
But.
‘If I don’t act, that itself becomes a problem.’
Jason had warned Berje every time he caused trouble. Naturally so. What Berje stirred up was not merely Berje’s problem alone.
As long as they were bound within the single framework called “Demon King,” his mistakes became the mistakes of all Demon Kings.
If he caused an incident that emphasised their threat, humans would grow wary of every Demon King.
The fear and vigilance toward Demon Kings that had been reduced over nearly a hundred years were being muddied by a single loach.
“....”
He had finally crossed a ‘line’ that truly must not be crossed.
Whether his target was Jason himself or something else did not matter. Somehow, Berje’s head had to be hung before the Empire to proclaim that Demon Kings were not all that great.
Before human anger turned toward all Demon Kings.
Before everything he had prepared went awry.
It had to be corrected. The twisted direction had to be set right once more.
“Arein is not going to be conquered like this. You disgusting Demon Dragon bastard.”
Why was it that the lizard bastards who lived the longest possessed the least patience of all?
“Lord Berje.”
In the end, he made contact.
『What is it? Jason Kokemundo.』
The eyes of the black Demon Dragon stared straight at him.
“I won’t waste words. Why did you do it?”
『Do what?』
“Why did you scatter monsters across the Empire?”
『I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been running around trying to stop the hero party from attacking the tower. As you know, the tower’s location has been exposed.』
『And you think someone like me would be doing something else? If I had that kind of leeway, wouldn’t stopping the hero party be more effective?』
Berje’s words sounded plausible at first glance. Yes—if only for a brief moment.
“The hero party has not found the tower. They’re still wandering somewhere in the mountain range, and they haven’t discovered even a speck of traces from monsters or the demon race.”
『Hooh.』
The Demon King beyond the crystal orb smiled.
『And how do you know that?』
“We both roughly understand each other, so I won’t bother explaining.”
『That’s interesting.』
Berje had not expected him to come out this openly. He was impressed.
But this was not good news. Rather, it was the opposite. Berje realized that Jason had made up his mind about something.
“What you’ve done is a declaration of war.”
Within the Empire’s territory—no, within a ducal domain—he had unleashed monsters and reduced it to devastation.
『Against the Empire?』
“Against humans.”
This was not merely the Empire’s problem.
The fear that a Demon King could attack them at any time—the very fear Jason had tried so hard to erase—had raised its head once again.
Fear would soon turn into anger.
They would insist on striking before being struck themselves.
It was a sign of chaos and catastrophe.
“The anti-war sentiment we barely managed to lull will boil over again.”
“Humans will tremble in anxiety and cry out for the overthrow of the Demon Kings.”
“Kings and nobles will exploit that public opinion to expand their armaments and attack us.”
“Heroes will gladly lend a hand for the sake of fame and power.”
“The snowfields will be attacked, the gorge will be attacked, the lake will be attacked.”
“All because of your single act of recklessness.”
『Is that something to be afraid of?』
『We are Demon Kings. Conquerors, not those meant to be conquered.』
『Do you think crossing dimensions just to tuck our tails like frightened dogs and bow our heads to humans is the right thing to do?』
“Confidence without countermeasures is recklessness. And recklessness destroys not only you, but everyone.”
『So?』
“There’s no reasoning with you.”
Fine.
He had never expected a proper answer anyway.
“Do you have any countermeasures?”
『At the very least, not to the extent that you should be worrying about my life.』
“I see. So that’s how it is.”
Jason pushed up his monocle.
The patience he had endured and endured finally reached its limit.
“You’re just impossible to talk to.”
“Arrogant and dogmatic.”
“A Demon Dragon, through and through.”
“It was a mistake from the start to hope for understanding or compromise.”
The mask shattered.
Suppressed emotions burst forth as if exploding.
『Looks like you’ve lost all desire to maintain courtesy?』
“Courtesy is reserved for those worth showing it to. Not a lizard bastard like you.”
『That’s rich coming from the one who used the 1st Prince and sent beast demons to attack a merchant company.』
“So that’s why? The raid on the Black Toad Merchant Company?”
『You don’t even feel like hiding it anymore, do you?』
“No. Not anymore.”
A smile crept onto Jason’s lips, growing deeper and twisting into something vicious.
“You should look forward to it.”
He muttered quietly. Berje felt a chill.
You tried to drag everyone down with you, but I won’t let that stand.
“The anger meant for the Gold-Steel Tower.”
“To the Frost Tower.”
“The anger meant for me.”
“I’ll turn it all back so that in the end, it points to you alone.”
All of humanity’s emotions would be directed at you, and every hero would move with the sole purpose of killing you.
『Is that even possible? For a Demon King like you?』
“I’ll make it possible. No matter what it takes.”
One word at a time, he spat them out as if chewing them to pieces.
“Demon Dragon, Berje Deias.”
You will become the enemy of mankind, the enemy of the continent, and without fail—
“Without fail, you will die.”
Carrying with you all the karma you’ve built and humanity’s fear of Demon Kings.
The Demon Dragon, facing his fury head-on, laughed.
『I thought it was strange. That among the five seats, only one was left unchanging.』
『So you were using human hands to eliminate those you didn’t like?』
“So what if I was?”
『Ugar or Reina would be delighted to hear about this.』
“If that’s your last-ditch struggle, go ahead.”
『You don’t care if those two turn against you?』
“It’ll hurt. I’ll be furious.”
But even if the time came when he had to kill those two Demon Kings as well—
“I’ll personally tear you limb from limb with my own hands.”
Berje had to die. He could no longer be left alone.
The reply came—
After a long while.
『Kuhahahahahaha.』
With a thunderous laugh.
『This will be fun. Whether you fall first, or I do.』
『I wish you luck.』
The connection was cut.
──!
Jason hurled the glass sitting beside him.
“Berje…! Berje Deias!”
For a long time. Dozens of pieces of glass shattered.
* * *
“....”
Berje stood still for quite some time.
“I barely(?) nudged him, and he showed his true colours.”
The effect was better than expected.
“He says he’ll turn all the anger meant for the other Demon Kings toward me alone?”
“That all heroes will try to kill me?”
It implied many things.
In the Empire, or in other nations, and within the Hero Guild.
That Jason Kokemundo’s influence was far greater than expected.
That the power base he had built over more than a hundred years might well be this entire continent.
And perhaps—
“You may really have been involved.”
In Berje’s death before regression.
“The entire continent will attack me?”
What could he do? Berje had already experienced it once.
Before regression, under an order led by the Empire, most of the Hero Guild’s heroes had risen, joined by the elites of every nation.
He had endured that several times.
Of course, the Berje of then and the Berje of now were very different…
Originally, the first time was the hardest. The second was easier.
That didn’t mean this would be easy, but having experienced it once gave him some composure.
‘No.’
This was not composure born of experience.
At its core was confidence born from faith that, no matter what happened, the tower would not be attacked.
“Search for a hundred days if you want.”
Will the tower ever reveal itself before you?
“Now then.”
With this, the collusion between the 1st Prince and Jason was confirmed.
How should he sever the relationship between these two and take his revenge?
“I don’t know Jason’s true level.”
Many things about him were hidden. Even when they had met directly through Harmony of the Towers, Berje had not been able to discern his level.
Of course, he did not believe it was simply due to a gap in rank. It was probably the nature of Jason’s power itself.
But it could not be denied that engaging him head-on right now would mean certain defeat.
No matter how many Demonic Points he had amassed in a short time compared to the other Demon Kings, his opponent had endured and survived in Arein for over a hundred years.
With that amount of time, wouldn’t it be possible not only to fully recover the power of the Demon Realm, but to grow even stronger?
Of course, it was mere speculation. He had never lived in a lower dimension for over a hundred years.
‘Even if I surpass him in raw power, I cannot kill him.’
A Demon King killing another Demon King was an absolute taboo. Unless one never intended to return to the Demon Realm, it was something that must never be done.
‘Then I’ll have to borrow human hands as well.’
As expected, Hero Hillan Cargill?
Berje stroked his chin.
If Jason had the Empire and the 1st Prince—no, even Balraf Dislode—then Berje had Hilderan, the Crown Princess, and Hillan Cargill.
‘I wonder if this really counts as a fight between Demon Kings.’
That was when it happened.
“There are too many people looking for me.”
This time, it was an imperial prince.
“What is it?”
『…I’m asking just in case.』
“It’s probably exactly what you think.”
『So it really was your doing! What on earth were you thinking…!』
Martin sighed.
『This can’t even be compared to before! The entire Empire will rise up!』
“The hero party is already looking for my tower. Can it really get any worse than this?”
『So you’re saying you’ll just give up entirely and die together with everyone else?』
“If I die, isn’t that good for you?”
『How can you even say that…!』
“I’m a Demon King, and I’ll live dozens of times longer than you, so don’t worry.”
『Are you really that confident?』
“How dare you ask me such a question. Just do your own job.”
Martin, beyond the crystal orb, bit his lip.
『If something happens to Kaede, I will never let it go.』
“Do as you please.”
Berje unilaterally cut the connection.
In his own way, he understood.
He knew better than anyone what kind of ripple effects his actions would cause.
Because he had already experienced it once.
How vile and disgusting it was to awaken a slumbering Empire.
They would definitely find the tower and return to Ergest. They already were, but they would come even more fiercely.
And the end of it would culminate in Berje’s death.
But.
If one didn’t know, one would simply suffer it—but when one could roughly foresee the future, Berje was not foolish enough to still be caught unprepared.
Especially since this incident was something he had deliberately planned.
Seated upon the throne, Berje summoned Roger.
“Roger Friedrich.”
“Yes, my Demon King.”
The quietly summoned dwarf bowed his head.
“How did it turn out?”
“Right here.”
Roger handed over a complex blueprint.
“The height is set at roughly 50 meters, with two floors. We can’t truly make the interior a subspace like the real thing, so two floors are ideal if we want it to be convincing.”
Originally, because of spatial magic, a Demon King’s tower looked only 50 meters tall from the outside, but inside, a single floor was close to 20 meters in height.
To prevent intruders from sensing something strange the moment they entered the first floor and escaping, following Roger’s design was the right choice.
“That’s fine.”
“Because of the size, it will require a lot of materials, but fortunately, no rare materials are needed. As long as we have large quantities of simple things like dye, steel, copper, zinc, and a few other metals.”
“I’ll find a way.”
“We’ll also try to procure as much as we can from the surroundings.”
“Procure?”
“Ergest is a place untouched by human hands. Mountains like this usually have many veins. If you assign us an escort, we’ll explore for veins ourselves. Of course, it would be even better if you could supply them directly.”
“Understood.”
“The main problem is floating stone. No matter how much money you have, floating stone isn’t something you can easily obtain. To build it nearby and move it to the desired location, floating stone would be best.”
“You can make it a hollow shell. As long as it looks convincing on the outside, nothing more is needed. Don’t we have monsters as our power source? They can carry it themselves.”
“Ah… Then I’ll need to revise the blueprint a bit. Make it lighter.”
“Do it.”
Berje studied the contents of the blueprint as if savoring them.
It was—
A blueprint of the tower.