Chapter 227 : The Fourth
Chapter 227: The Fourth
“...Abandon. Me, abandon. Bad.”
The Demon King had abandoned her.
Lavinia sat gloomily on Cher’s shoulder, kicking her feet.
─!
─!
Cher’s physical body swayed as he was lightly struck by her heels. At the sound of his pained cry, Lavinia stopped moving.
“...Sorry.”
Grrr—
“...I know. I won’t abandon you.”
At Cher’s comfort, Lavinia leaned her head against his neck.
She knew it wasn’t abandonment. She just didn’t like it.
“The Empire....”
She looked far to the east. Where the Empire lay. The root cause that had made her fall from the Demon King’s arms and remain behind in Arkan.
“The Sky Tower, see....”
Grr?
“Ride....”
She wanted to.
Her eyes narrowed petulantly.
“Elder Sister, so you were here. E, Elder Sister?”
Cain, who had come to find her, froze in shock.
‘Wh, when she makes that expression, it always means....’
She was about to cause trouble.
Cain swallowed dryly.
“Elder Sister, has something unpleasant happened?”
“Pale.”
“Didn’t Lord Pale say he had some business and would be away for a while?”
“Me too.”
“That won’t do. As a princess of the kingdom, Elder Sister—”
“Empire. Gone?”
“If the Empire were gone....”
He thought for a moment. It was true that the biggest reason the king had forbidden Lavinia from going out was the Empire’s declaration of war.
Since the fact that she was the princess of Arkan was so well known, if she wandered around alone, she could fall into the Empire’s clutches.
But that was only the biggest reason, not the only one. The king had never liked Lavinia’s habit of going off to hunt monsters to research chimeras.
He would probably take this chance to keep her confined altogether.
‘But even if His Majesty forbids it....’
Lavinia was not the kind to simply not go. At the same time, the king of Arkan was not a cold-blooded man who would kill his daughter for disobeying orders.
When angered, he might shout harsh words and lash out, but in the end he always worried about her and took care of her in his own way.
He was a father who cherished his blood relatives.
‘Last time, he did tell her to handle things herself in Ergest, but....’
That had been because she had just been put under house arrest after being rescued from the Beast’s Tower, only to cause another incident. He had also believed she would survive.
So if they managed to block the imperial forces well this time, there was a high chance there wouldn’t be a major problem.
“...Yes. If there were no Empire, you could go wherever you like, Elder Sister.”
“...Empire bad.”
“Yes, the Empire is bad.”
“Empire bad.”
“That’s right.”
“Empire bad!”
At Lavinia’s shout, the surrounding air trembled. Cain was flustered by her excited demeanor, so unlike her usual calm, emotionless manner.
‘E, Elder Sister is expressing emotions this strongly? That much for Lord Pale...?’
At the same time, he felt moved.
But calming Lavinia came first. He had watched and learned how Berje soothed her.
“Elder Sister, would you like some chocolate?”
“Chocolate?”
It was handmade chocolate he had obtained from a famous confectionery in the royal capital. He unwrapped the elegant packaging and handed it to Lavinia.
Lavinia took a bite—and spat it out.
“Elder Sister?”
“...Sweet.”
“Well, chocolate is originally sweet, isn’t it?”
“Sweet.”
“Didn’t you eat the one Lord Pale gave you just fine?”
“That one not.”
“That one wasn’t sweet?”
That couldn’t be.
“That one was made by an artisan who trained for twenty-five years at a handmade chocolate workshop in the royal capital of Hilderan. It’s widely praised as tasting the same.”
He hadn’t brought just anything, knowing Lavinia’s picky palate well.
“....”
But Lavinia gave no answer.
“....”
An awkward silence passed.
Then she took another bite of the chocolate. And spat it out again.
“Sweet.”
Hmph. Lavinia snorted lightly and patted Cher’s shoulder. Cher spread his single wing and lifted himself into the air.
“Elder Sister! At dawn tomorrow, we’ll be marching out to assist Iasince! You must come as well! That’s what I came to tell you!”
“Mm.”
With a low reply, she vanished in an instant.
Left alone, Cain opened a new wrapper and savored the chocolate.
It was sweet yet smooth, with a delicate lingering aroma.
“...Strange. It tastes exactly the same.”
It was no different from the chocolate he had asked Pale for out of curiosity when he saw Lavinia eating it without a word.
“...Is my tongue dull?”
He concluded that a mage who researched chimeras simply had an unusually sensitive tongue.
“Should I get one from the Hilderan main branch instead?”
* * *
The death of Dorche Astain.
The reverse-summoning of the tower was immediately reported to Archduke Arkaine Blarimph of the Demon Realm.
“That Jason bastard, he actually...!”
Now fully aware of the entire situation, Archduke Arkaine ground his teeth.
That Dorche would die—he had never even imagined it.
After all, he was someone who had conquered five dimensions and was marked as a candidate for the next archduke.
‘For someone like Dorche to die means one thing.’
Whoever killed him, Jason had not given him enough Demonic Points to properly lift all interference power.
‘In the first place, the only one who could kill him is Jason.’
No— a Doppelgänger wearing Jason’s skin. With everything revealed, there was no reason for other Demon Kings to kill Dorche.
“...The place you’re going is that kind of place.”
“If you entrust it to me, I will surely cut down Jason Kokemundo, who mocked the Demon Realm and Your Excellency.”
Bruno Koul, a retainer of Archduke Arkaine, bowed his head.
He was a lord who commanded vampires numbering in the tens of thousands, a Demon King who had conquered seven dimensions, and someone selected as a candidate for the next archduke.
“Once you descend, Reina Sordein will assist you.”
“The Daughter of Frost, then.”
“She may not be on Jason’s level, but she too has rotted away there for nearly a hundred years. It should be enough to lift most of the interference power placed upon you. Go, and together with Reina Sordein, subjugate Jason Kokemundo.”
“Yes. And what of the others?”
“...Berje Deias displeases me, but that’s all. In truth, he hasn’t committed any real crime. Make him cooperate as well.”
And Vivian Blunt is...
Crunch—
Archduke Arkaine’s face twisted viciously.
“Your Excellency?”
“...Ignore that woman. She’s utterly useless in battle anyway.”
“I will capture her and make her apologize to Your Excellency.”
“That would be fine, but Jason comes first.”
“Yes. I will never disappoint you.”
Bruno Koul resolutely completed all preparations.
The great vampire destined for the archduke’s seat, along with thousands of retainers, descended upon Arein.
* * *
“...So this is Arein.”
Cold air wrapped around his lungs.
The hostility of the dimension pouring in from all sides was more severe than any dimension he had ever visited.
“As expected.”
So this was why it was called the worst dimension.
Even the interference power itself was on a different level. Demon Kings for whom Arein was their first dimension wouldn’t know the difference, but this dimension was exceptional from the very start.
Then, footsteps were heard. Soft and light. A silhouette emerged through the blizzard.
“Are you the ones His Excellency the Archduke spoke of?”
“Are you Reina Sordein?”
“I am.”
“I am Bruno Koul, descended under His Excellency’s secret command.”
“I’ve heard of you. You conquered no less than seven dimensions, didn’t you? His Excellency invested quite a bit of effort.”
“How could that be my achievement alone? It was accomplished together with other Demon Kings. Just as you and I must work together now.”
Bruno shrugged.
“So, where is this place?”
“The summit of the Ergest Mountains. A forbidden land unpermitted to humans, scarcely ever touched.”
“Not bad. It violates The Demon King’s Standard, but right now, punishing a traitor takes precedence over acting as a Demon King. Then shall we first erect the tower?”
He took an orb from his bosom. When a Demon King dies, the tower linked to them is automatically reverse-summoned to the Demon Realm.
All accumulated Demonic Points return to the Demon Realm, and the tower reverts to its primordial form.
That was the seed. Once blood was dropped upon it and Demonic Points infused again, it would accept a new owner and prepare to fulfill its role once more.
At that moment—
─!
Pure white frost froze Bruno’s hand.
“...I don’t understand what you think you’re doing.”
“Unfortunately, you cannot become Arein’s Demon King.”
“I came here under His Excellency’s secret command. You can’t possibly not understand what this action means.”
“I understand it very well. I am not doing this because I wish to. But there are times in this world when one must do what one does not wish to do.”
“For a Demon King like you to say you must act against your will—don’t tell me?”
Bruno’s face twisted.
“Who is it? Who made you a retainer, you bitch?”
“Does that matter?”
“It does. To dare commit treason against the Demon Realm!”
The answer came quickly. Jason. It could only be Jason.
“Kill her! Kill this woman!”
Thousands of vampires released their killing intent at once. Reina, however, paid them no mind.
“If this were the Demon Realm, I might have knelt before you.”
After all, retainers of a Demon King who had conquered seven dimensions could not be ordinary.
But this was Arein, and they had only just descended— they hadn’t even erected a tower yet.
Whether thousands or tens of thousands came, before Reina they were nothing more than lumps of ice.
─────!
Cold air mixed with the blizzard froze all the vampires solid.
Bruno clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot.
“How could the noble Frost Demon race become the dog of some mere Doppelgänger!”
“That is a grave insult to Reina.”
─!
A Demon King descended from the sky.
Spreading black wings, revealing black pupils, black flames melted the snow from his eyes.
“She didn’t become a Doppelgänger’s dog, but a retainer of a great Demon Dragon.”
“...Berje Deias?”
“You know me?”
“Of course. How could I not know the bastard who caused such a ruckus at the graduation ceremony and vanished?”
“Then this will be easy. Die. That’s your role.”
“What? Have you also become Jason’s lackey!”
“Your premise is wrong. Neither Reina nor I are Jason’s retainers.”
Rather—
“We’re doing this to kill that bastard Jason.”
“...What?”
Berje calmly picked up the tower seed gleaming proudly atop the frozen hand.
“That’s not something you should touch!”
“I made you like this so I could touch it. I thought about it.”
Whether to cooperate with a newly descended Demon King or not.
“But I don’t like Archduke Arkaine. Rather than cooperate with an impudent retainer who descended for his sake, I judged it better to devour you and grow my own power.”
And above all, the tower. He had to obtain it and merge it. Berje understood its importance better than anyone in the Demon Realm.
“And there’s no way Archduke Arkaine would send an ordinary demon.”
Secrets must be hidden. Naturally, one entrusts missions to those they can trust. The descending Demon King was bound to be Archduke Arkaine’s retainer.
“One who has already become someone’s retainer cannot serve a new master until their lord dies. Since I can’t kill Archduke Arkaine right now, that means I can’t take you for myself.”
“You insolent bastard! Do you think His Excellency would die at the hands of the likes of you! No— even if I weren’t serving him, I would never serve a lawless vermin like you!”
“Exactly. That’s why.”
Berje dropped blood onto the orb.
“Why you will die here today. All I care about is the tower. If I kill you before the tower chooses a new owner, then this becomes mine.”
“You outrageous traitor! The Demon Emperor will never leave you be!”
“Sure. I’ll generously overlook the barking of a dog about to die.”
Crunch—
The head fell. Even a Demon King who had conquered seven dimensions was no more than a high-grade demon under Arein’s interference power.
“Y, Your Excellency....”
Berje thrust his hand into the man’s chest. Enormous Demonic Points flooded in.
Though he couldn’t fully exert the power due to dimensional interference, the Demonic Points and strength Bruno possessed were by no means small.
“This too will become a dagger to stab Jason with.”
“Are you all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Dorche, Daniel, and now Bruno. None of them were ordinary beings, and the energy they carried surpassed imagination.”
“So?”
“Even a Demon Dragon has limits.”
Every living being has a wall. A Demon Dragon’s wall is exceptionally high, and though they surpass it through special means, it does exist.
“Well, at least for now I’m fine. Look, I haven’t even yawned once.”
And—
“Now’s not the time to worry about that.”
“That’s true. But be careful. If something happens to you now, everything will go awry.”
“I will.”
With everything drained, Bruno crumbled into dust and vanished. His retainers shed tears of blood at their lord’s death, but bound in ice, there was nothing they could do.
Berje’s body, having accepted tremendous power, shook as if it would break apart.
“...Deal with those ones yourself and make them your retainers.”
Haaaa—
After some time, Berje let out a heated breath.
“Wouldn’t it be better to leave them to Vivian rather than me?”
“Well, that works too. In any case, I should plant the tower now.”
If you obtained it, using it was only natural.
Berje dug into the ground and planted the tower.
[The tower recognizes the user.]
[Race: Black-Flame Dragonkin.]
[Name: Berje Deias.]
A familiar guidance voice rang out.
[Error. Error.]
[User Berje Deias already possesses another tower.]
[The new tower is being attributed to the existing tower.]
[The tower absorbs the tower.]
Kwakwakwakwa—
The five-story tower that suddenly rose scattered somewhere and vanished.
“What did you do?”
“The tower disappeared!”
“My heavens!”
Reina and the vampires were aghast, but Berje smiled in satisfaction.
“What did I do? Exactly what I wanted.”
At last, he had merged four towers.
Now it was time to go meet Jason.