Chapter 170 : Those Targeting the Tower of Dark Flame
Chapter 170: Those Targeting the Tower of Dark Flame
【The monster attacks that plunged the Empire into chaos, was the culprit the Demon King of Dark Flame?】
【Duke Osrian, ‘The Demon King of Dark Flame is evil, he must be killed without fail....’】
【The rain of monsters that covered Britan, was there actually another force behind it?】
【Heroes, ‘A Demon King who descended less than two years ago could never have carried out something like this alone....’】
【A nightmare of a single night. Briant, the Black Toad Merchant Company, monsters, and the Demon King of Dark Flame.】
【What was the hero party that departed for Ergest doing....】
【Hillan Cargill, ‘Is it really the Demon King of Dark Flame? Placing hostages somewhere other than a normal location means he compromised. Would someone like that suddenly choose such an extreme method?’ Raising doubts.】
【‘No Demon King can be trusted. Dark Flame isn’t special, all Demon Kings are the same.’ Voices calling not only for the subjugation of the Demon King of Dark Flame, but of all Demon Kings, are increasing....】
The incident Berje had caused was headlined day after day as a sensational exclusive.
Berje smiled as he scanned the newspapers. Thanks to Ernan, the public opinion that had been focused on him was gradually spreading outward.
【Zespine Empire proposes a temporary alliance to subjugate the Demon King of Dark Flame.】
There were articles he did not particularly like, but this was the natural course of events.
‘As expected, Jason’s ties are with the First Prince and the House of Duke Osrian.’
Since the Black Toad Merchant Company was also a merchant company under Osrian’s command, he could now be completely certain.
‘If it were up to me, I’d like to stir things up once more, but....’
If one decided to fight an opponent, one had to press the attack in a single decisive rush.
That was Berje’s way.
But not now. If he did something again at this point, it would only further fuel the anger directed at Berje.
The Demonic Points that would gather from that were welcome, but he did not want to swallow up even the suspicions that would be directed at Jason.
Right. So that was something for a little later.
For now, the best he could do was simply use wind magic to let the humans burn fiercely among themselves.
More than anything.
‘She’s here.’
There was also a matter that had to be dealt with immediately.
Berje brushed the vibrating communication orb. A faint chill could be felt.
『Berje Deias!』
The Frost Demon King, who had unintentionally ended up lending a hand to Berje’s rampage, roared.
* * *
“This is madness. Completely, utterly insane!”
“Calm down first.”
“Do I look like I can calm down!”
Crack—!
She slammed the table. Pure white frost wrapped itself around it.
“No one saw the monsters frozen. The humans don’t know that you cooperated.”
“That’s not the problem! The hatred and rage toward you are reaching even here. Voices calling to kill you and, furthermore, to subjugate all Demon Kings are echoing across the entire continent.”
“I know.”
“Just what, what were you thinking when you did this? Was it a mistake for this one to trust you?”
Surely it wasn’t simply to gather large amounts of negative emotions?
Reina regretted it. Back then, she should not have given him the magic orb. If she had known about today’s events, she would never have cooperated.
Her gaze sank coldly.
“You return this one’s expectations and mercy in this way.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? The flames you ignited will sweep over not only you, but this one and all Demon Kings as well.”
“I can’t say with certainty that there will be absolutely no damage to you. But I can be certain it won’t spread into a major problem.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Their anger will be focused on me and Jason.”
Reina closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. After calmly settling her emotions, she opened them again.
“Explain it in detail, enough for this one to be convinced.”
“There was a merchant company I was sponsoring.”
“A merchant company?”
“Yes. You should know that Jason is involved in human affairs, and I was approaching them in a similar way.”
“...So?”
“But that merchant company was attacked not long ago.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“However, it seems beast-type demons were mixed in among the attackers.”
“...Draxon is dead.”
“Yes, he’s dead. But can you be certain that all beastmen were completely wiped out at the time?”
“...Ugar is—”
“Even if Ugar were to accept beastmen as his kin, he’s currently staying quietly in his tower. He’s not the kind of guy with the nerve to send beastmen to cause trouble for no reason.”
“...Jason.”
“Yes, Jason. At least, that’s what I believe.”
Berje’s explanation did not end there.
“Going back to it, the merchant company suffered damage but somehow managed to fend it off. However, they were soon picked on by another merchant company and were pushed to the brink of ruin.”
“Another merchant company?”
“That merchant company was connected to the Empire’s House of Duke Osrian. Furthermore, even the First Prince.”
And.
“That First Prince is the human connection Jason ultimately holds.”
“...The First Prince? Then that means....”
“It can be said that Jason pulled strings to bring down my merchant company.”
“That’s a stretch. If you sponsored the merchant company, how would Jason know whether it was your merchant company or not—”
“With what money would I have sponsored a merchant company? It was Jason who lent them money in exchange for Demonic Points.”
“...Are you certain the First Prince and Jason are connected?”
“At the very least, I was certain. So I borrowed your power and attacked the merchant company’s headquarters.”
That was the attack that had now set the continent ablaze.
“Even so....”
“Not long after, a reaction came from Jason. And it was a very intense one. It was the first time I had ever seen the smile vanish from the face he always maintained.”
“...What?”
“He said he would kill me. He said he would focus all the anger that had spread to all Demon Kings onto me alone, making me the scapegoat. He said he would save the other Demon Kings that way.”
“...!”
“Do you understand? This is not a war of humans versus Demon Kings.”
Between me, Berje Deias, and Jason Kokemundo.
“It is war.”
* * *
Heeheehing—
The horse reared roughly. The knight following behind opened the carriage door.
“We have arrived, Your Highness.”
“It’s my first time in Trafarta.”
“I will escort you.”
“Thank you.”
Rufus stepped down from the carriage.
He briefly swept his gaze around. Dozens of carriages were lined up in perfect order. The crests embroidered on each carriage belonged to those who lived upon this continent, forming its civilizations.
“It seems everyone has arrived.”
“I greet the First Prince of the Zespine Empire. I am Doris, Vice-Commander of the Lotus Knight Order.”
“A pleasure.”
“I will guide you to the banquet hall.”
“Lead the way.”
“Yes.”
Doris bowed and swallowed dryly.
Was it from tension? Cold sweat trickled down.
‘Insane.... The Black Dragon Knight Order.’
The emblem engraved on the armor of the knights escorting the carriage was a black dragon so vivid it looked as though it might come alive at any moment.
It was an emblem too famous to mistake.
One of the Empire’s five swords, the Black Dragon Knight Order.
Sending the Empire’s First Prince and the symbol of the Empire to a mere conference meant that the Empire was devoting that much attention to this matter.
‘The kids better not cause any unnecessary trouble.’
He had warned them in advance, but the keen, blade-like presence of the Black Dragon Knight Order made his nerves tense for no reason.
Fortunately, no problems arose, and the First Prince safely arrived at the prepared conference hall.
Just before the doors opened, Doris fulfilled his duty.
“Only two knights may accompany you into the banquet hall.”
“....”
His eyes met those of the First Prince. He could feel the gaze of the commander of the Black Dragon Knight Order behind him.
With sweat pouring out on its own, he nearly reached for his sword.
“Very well.”
Fortunately, the First Prince readily agreed. Soon after, the doors opened.
“The First Prince of the Zespine Empire, His Highness Rufus Zespine, has arrived!”
The Chief Chamberlain announced his entrance.
All eyes were drawn to him. The pupils of the envoys seated around the massive round table dilated.
“...The First Prince?”
“My heavens, the First Prince himself?”
Enjoying the attention, Rufus naturally took his seat.
“Greetings to you all. I am Rufus Zespine, First Prince of the Zespine Empire.”
The envoys gathered here were all diplomats and nobles of considerable standing in their respective nations.
Yet not a single one pointed out Rufus’s lack of etiquette. The background of the Empire, his position as the First Prince closest to becoming the next Emperor, and the pressure that flowed naturally from him made it so.
“...Please observe proper decorum, Your Highness.”
With the exception of Marquis Perian of the Kingdom of Arkan, known as the Empire’s rival.
“Decorum, is it? My apologies. I’m in quite a foul mood right now. It wasn’t intentional.”
He shrugged toward the nobles.
“I have shown an unsightly display.”
His words ran completely contrary to his attitude.
“Not long ago, calamity descended upon the Empire’s resplendent city, Britan. It arrived suddenly, without any omen.”
He immediately led into the main point. No one had granted him the floor, and it was something that should never be done in a conference, but the already-dominated atmosphere tacitly overlooked the rules.
“Have any of you ever imagined it? The sight of gigantic monsters falling from the sky.”
Citizens crushed by monsters until their forms were unrecognizable.
Roofs collapsing.
Main roads shattered.
Ordinary daily life collapsing.
“You probably couldn’t even imagine it. Monsters falling from the sky. What kind of absurd tale would that be?”
Flying monsters such as harpies, wyverns, and griffins certainly existed. But their numbers were not that great, and even if they were, they had territories.
It was not something that could occur in a city at the heart of the Empire, where every last monster in the surrounding area had already been subjugated.
“However, I, we, the Empire.”
Rufus enunciated each word in a low voice.
“Have seen it, experienced it, and suffered it.”
An unimaginable situation had become reality.
“Buildings collapsed.”
More than hundreds of buildings fell.
“Citizens screamed.”
Thousands of casualties occurred.
“The lord died.”
The lord of Briant, Count Briant, lost his life.
“The Empire has suffered enormous damage, and the citizens are trembling in fear.”
And so the Empire willingly rose.
To repay this humiliation and disgrace.
“I regret it. That we.”
Were perhaps.
“Too lenient.”
“What do you mean by that?”
A diplomat from the Kingdom of Horton asked.
“Think of the past. When the Demon Kings first descended and abducted royalty, imperial kin.”
They fought bitterly. Hostility toward one another soared without end, and there was no such thing as concession or compromise.
“In truth, there’s no need to go far back. It was the same just a hundred years ago.”
Yes, it had only been a little over a hundred years. But that was enough time for two generations to change, and Demon Kings gradually came to feel familiar and insignificant.
Thus, humans placed Demon Kings beneath their feet. Or so they thought.
“Even when Demon Kings caused minor problems, we granted mercy and looked the other way.”
Even when royalty was abducted, they did not always kill the Demon King. Even when small incidents were caused, they stopped at an appropriate line.
And so they dared to abduct imperial kin, sent succubi to seduce nobles.
They planted Black Mages in the Empire’s core and abducted dwarf craftsmen.
Not long ago, they even abducted four princesses of a single country at once.
And now they were trying to bite at the throat.
“...Surely you don’t intend to show us another extermination like a hundred years ago?”
“Not to that extent. The Demon Kings of then and the Demon Kings of now are different.”
A hundred years ago, humans killed no fewer than four Demon Kings. All but the one called False fell beneath the heroes’ swords. From that point on, humans began to look down on Demon Kings.
But those four Demon Kings had all been less than fifty years since their descent. Unlike Frost and Gold-Steel, who had been around for nearly a hundred years.
“One. Just one will do. To clearly show as an example.”
“The Demon King of Dark Flame.”
“Correct. A conference? A council? None of that is necessary.”
The First Prince smiled as he spoke.
“This is a declaration. No matter what happens, the Empire will take the head of the Demon King of Dark Flame. We will behead him and hang his head in Britan for ten years, to console the souls of the citizens who died.”
So.
“Those who will stand with the Empire, come. Refusal is acceptable.”
Even if not a single nation participated, the Empire would push forward regardless.
“However, if you interfere.”
Rufus’s eyes sank coldly. The nobles who met that chill swallowed their breath.
“That person will receive the Empire’s blade before the Demon King of Dark Flame does.”
“Are you threatening us right now?”
At Arkan’s protest, Rufus shrugged.
“A threat, if you wish to call it a threat. But do you know this?”
Rufus leaned his head closer toward the Arkan noble.
“A dragon has something called a reverse scale. Touch it, and it goes mad.”
And the symbol of the Empire was also a dragon.
“Britan is the Empire’s reverse scale.”
The Black Toad Merchant Company was Rufus’s reverse scale.
“And so the Empire.”
And so he.
“Can see nothing right now.”
There was nothing in sight.
* * *
Rufus’s remarks were extreme, to say the least.
However, aside from Arkan partially criticizing his attitude, there was no one who opposed his opinion itself.
That meant the nations all shared a sense of alarm regarding what the Demon King of Dark Flame had done.
“What is the reason you can’t find the tower? Is it because of the unwritten rule that you can’t cross another nation’s borders under the pretext of a tower and a Demon King? If not that, then what? If you release tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, no matter how tightly the tower is hidden, won’t it ultimately be in Ergest!”
Rufus Zespine’s opinion was met with everyone’s cheers, and thus the alliance was formed.
Its duration would last until the very moment the Demon King of Dark Flame was killed.
* * *
Rufus, who had rendered distinguished service in forming the alliance, returned to the Empire’s capital.
Long live His Highness Rufus!
Long live the Zespine Empire!
Long live the Continental Alliance!
The cheers of the citizens and the welcome of the nobles. It was truly a triumphant return.
‘If this succeeds, there will be no one left who can covet my position.’
It was the formation of an allied army uniting the entire continent, and he had led it from start to finish.
Now, if only he succeeded in subjugating the Demon King, he was certain the scales would tilt decisively in his favor.
‘And subjugating a Demon King can’t possibly fail.’
That was impossible.
‘I’m curious.’
For some reason, he found himself wanting to see what expressions Floyan, who openly coveted the position of Crown Prince, or Martin, who had suddenly invested in the Golden Moon Merchant Company to interfere with his work, would be wearing.
“...What?”
However, a single piece of news that swallowed all his achievements struck the capital.
“...That.”
Count Kanhil, delivering the report, looked just as uncomfortable.
“They brought back a dragon’s wings and tail. They say they hunted a dragon.”
“....”
The hero party that had gone to subjugate the Demon King of Dark Flame had, out of nowhere, returned after subjugating a dragon instead.
Carrying enormous wings and a tail as their spoils of war.