Chapter 142 - Logger’s Trap

“At last.”

The time had come.

Ernyan Hilderan had safely passed into the hands of Hilderan’s raiding party. Whether the Third Prince was faithfully carrying out his assigned task or not, there was no word from the Empire about launching a hero’s journey for the moment.

Even if this was the calm before the storm, they had still bought time. And that precious time was Berge’s last chance.

“Are the plans ready?”

“Neither walking on two legs nor using caterpillar tracks will let it travel smoothly through the rugged Erjest Mountains. So I’m designing it with eight legs, allowing it to go anywhere like a spider. Even along cliffs!”

Logger had been skeptical at first, but the moment he glimpsed a possibility, his professional pride erupted.

If he was going to build it, he would make it more beautiful, more reliable, more perfect.

This was the result of staying up night after night, putting his head together with the golem controller.

“Each leg will be twenty-two meters long. Once it bends in half to move, accounting for the joint, its actual operating height will be around ten meters.”

“Each leg will have 211 joints for fluid movement, with 315 magical circuits inscribed to ensure a smooth flow...”

“The estimated materials required for all that are...”

The list of materials pouring from Logger’s mouth was staggering.

Their one saving grace was that they would not need to make a core to attach legs to the tower, which could, in a sense, be considered a golem.

The core was a golem’s all-important heart. Without demonic energy as a substitute, it would not merely have been a question of needing more materials to make one. They would not have been able to make it at all.

Even the Kingdom of Berft did not yet possess the technology to create a power source capable of moving a tower—a golem—dozens of meters tall.

“How long do you expect it to take?”

“The plans aren’t finished yet, so the estimate isn’t exact.”

“So how long?”

“This is the pinnacle of cutting-edge magical engineering, something no one has ever built or even attempted to build. Such delicate machinery requires many skilled craftsmen, and naturally, depending on their number and skill...”

“In other words, it depends on what I do. Is that what you’re saying?”

“... Ahaha, not exactly.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Ahaha...”

“Gordon.”

“I’ve already spoken to the Golden Moon Trading Company. But I don’t think it will be easy.”

“Why?”

“Bringing them into the tower means they will learn about you and us, my lord. We won’t be able to send them back to the continent. Skilled craftsmen with so few ties that their disappearance won’t cause trouble are hardly common.”

“Then we’ll simply have to cause trouble.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll abduct some dwarves.”

The tower was more important than keeping the Golden Moon Trading Company from collapsing, but if he could preserve the company as well, it was only right to do so.

It would therefore be better for craftsmen to disappear because a Demon King had gone on a rampage than for craftsmen recruited through the Golden Moon Trading Company to go missing.

“... The Kingdom of Berft won’t stand idly by.”

He knew. Ideally, he would not be caught, but if he was, the Kingdom of Berft would be thrown into an uproar. And the moment they committed themselves to bringing down the Demon King of Hellfire, dwarven weapons would flood into every nation.

Provoking the dwarven kingdom was to be avoided at all costs.

If he had a future to worry about, that is.

“Even if things get worse, the outcome is the same. Instead of being beheaded, I’ll be torn limb from limb. What difference does it make when I’m already dead?”

“Are you saying you intend to die?”

“It’s a figure of speech. Even if we gain another enemy, once this plan is complete, won’t it amount to the same thing?”

“True. Conversely, if we can’t build the legs, we’ll die whether Berft joins in or not.”

“And above all, this is a race against time. We don’t know when the Empire will descend on us, so bringing in dwarves with better craftsmanship is the right choice.”

“That’s true as well.”

“Still, this is utterly pathetic.”

Even if it was true that Berge and the tower’s current inhabitants could not withstand the Empire’s might, to think a Demon King had to accept that and flee.

“You will surely be able to repay this debt someday.”

“Of course I will. In any case, it comes down to two things.”

An enormous quantity of materials, and craftsmen to build with them.

The materials were not much of a problem. He could put them all in his storage dimension and bring them back. If they would not all fit, he could make several trips.

The problem was the craftsmen.

Abducting them would not be difficult. Logger had told him about several secret tunnels he had dug, and Berge had a means of concealing his demonic energy completely, making it easier still. The problem was getting them back once the abductions had been discovered.

There would be at least dozens, possibly hundreds. Bringing them all along would inevitably attract attention. Yet living beings could hardly survive inside the four-dimensional space of a storage dimension.

“About that.”

“Hmm?”

“There may be a solution.”

“A solution?”

“Charlotte told me that if you freeze someone with magic, suspend their bodily functions, and shut out external flows, it becomes possible for them to survive in any space. Though it requires correspondingly powerful magic.”

“If you freeze them with magic and seal them off from the outside, even a living being can survive in a storage dimension?”

“According to Charlotte, yes. But naturally, it isn’t easy. She says the magic must be powerful enough to block the energy of another dimension.”

“Can Charlotte do it?”

“For a short time...”

“But not for long?”

“Correct.”

“In that case...”

It was obvious why Gordon had brought it up despite its apparent impossibility.

There was a way. No, there was no way at present, but if Berge got involved, they might somehow find a solution.

After all, there was someone.

The Demon King who could be called Berge’s only ally, the ruler of the frost demons who enjoyed(?) freezing royalty into statues.

“I’ll have to visit Reina.”

Come to think of it, he had not even asked Ugar what she had wanted him to ask. What should he promise her in return?

* * *

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure.”

Reina Sordein had readily accepted his sudden request for a meeting. Those were her first words as they sat face-to-face in the Demon King’s office.

A sweet cherry scent accompanied them.

She always had that candy in her mouth.

“About what?”

“Part of me thought you would come to see me like this. But another part thought you wouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“The former because of your circumstances.”

“I must really be in danger if even you know about it, living in isolation on the snowfields.”

“I’m not that isolated.”

Reina’s expression turned sulky.

“And the latter?”

“Pride.”

CRUNCH

The cherry candy, already worn down to a tiny piece, shattered in her mouth. She gulped it down, took out another candy, and popped it into her mouth.

“... How much candy do you have?”

“I always keep enough on hand that I never run out. When I conquer Arain, this candy is the one thing I will definitely bring back to the Demon Realm.”

“Would you like some of this, too?”

Berge took out the chocolate Ernyan had given him recently. It was finely wrapped, high-quality chocolate.

“Chocolate? Do you like this as well?”

“No, I happened to get some.”

“It doesn’t last as long as candy, so it isn’t quite as good, but I think it’s not bad.”

She immediately unwrapped the chocolate and put it in her mouth. A faint smile spread over her face as sweetness struck her tongue.

“It’s delicious.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“But accepting this doesn’t mean I can grant your request.”

“How do you know what I’m going to ask?”

“I have a rough idea.”

“How?”

“From your circumstances and our relationship. I’m sorry to say this when I was the one who proposed our alliance.”

Reina, too, desperately wanted to help Berge. Of the four other Demon Kings, he was the one she could trust, and they were allies, at least in name.

But doing so would be a bad move.

Even if she could save Berge, it would only postpone a single hero’s journey. The blade that had failed would grow sharper still and turn toward Reina.

Had she been on her own, she might have helped regardless. She was a noble of the Demon Realm who valued honor, and she knew that her word carried responsibility.

But she was not alone. Countless frost demons, demonic creatures, and monsters were her servants and members of her tower.

“I cannot help you. I cannot send you monsters, demonic creatures, or demons. But outside of that, if there is anything I can do, I will gladly help.”

“As an ally?”

“As an ally.”

“I’ve done nothing much for you. All I’ve done is receive things.”

“Your circumstances haven’t been particularly good from then until now, so I understand.”

“I still haven’t taken care of your request concerning Ugar, either.”

“The same applies to that.”

“...”

Berge was taken aback by what almost seemed like devotion.

The Reina he had known before his regression had not been like this. True to her nature as a frost demon and the Demon King of Bitter Cold, she had been a cold demon who radiated a chill.

‘We weren’t on good terms, so that probably wasn’t the whole picture, but this is far too different.’

She almost seemed to have her head in the clouds, innocently believing everything would work out.

“What would you do if I took everything you offered and then pretended I owed you nothing?”

“Are you saying you intend to betray me?”

“You seem to trust me too much.”

“You misunderstand something, Berge Deias.”

Reina’s gaze turned icy. Berge flinched at an expression he had not seen since his regression.

This was her true face, the one he had seen before going back in time.

“It is not that I trust you too much. Do you know the frost demons’ proverb?”

“... That when a frost demon bears a grudge, even a volcano freezes?”

“I’m glad you know it. A frost demon’s wrath is the deepest and coldest in the Demon Realm. And it is persistent.”

CRACKLE

Snow-white frost settled over the table.

“If you betray me, my ice will turn toward you before it turns toward the humans.”

“... Even if that puts you in danger of being defeated by them?”

“It might be delayed a little. I am not foolish enough to let my own head fall just to freeze someone else’s.”

But.

CRUNCH

A snow-white icicle dropped straight down. It passed Berge’s cheek, shattered the armrest of his chair, and embedded itself in the floor.

“I will see it through to the end. Until either I die or you do.”

“... I didn’t mean that I intended to betray you. I was concerned because all you do is give.”

“Then that is a relief. But your concern is excessive. I am not as naive as you think.”

“... So it seems.”

“For now, I am showing you unconditional goodwill, but I consider this an investment. You are facing a crisis, so I am merely postponing my returns for quite some time.”

“That’s frightening.”

“But you need it right now. Don’t you?”

“After saying you can’t provide any demons, demonic creatures, or monsters?”

“I cannot sacrifice my retainers for your sake.”

“Well, that’s fine.”

As it happened.

“What I need is something else.”

“Something else?”

“I need your power. The cold that freezes everything and seals it away.”

“My cold?”

“Yes. Cold that can freeze people and seal them away, so they’ll remain unharmed even inside a storage dimension. Can you give me that?”

“Do you intend to abduct someone?”

“Yes. I need to sow confusion among the humans. But revealing my identity now would only make things worse.”

“It is possible if I imbue magic orbs with my cold. They would be less efficient than magic I cast myself, but if I put my mind to it, they can keep someone alive in a storage dimension for over a week.”

“Perfect. That is exactly what I wanted.”

“How many orbs?”

“The more, the better.”

As for repayment...

“If I survive, I will repay you twofold without fail.”

“I look forward to it. I sincerely hope you survive.”

“I won’t disappoint you.”

That day, Berge obtained fifty magic orbs containing freezing magic.

* * *

“It should be around here.”

Having assumed Pale’s appearance, Berge examined the map Logger had drawn for him.

The dwarves had many cities, but Berge had chosen Berft’s royal capital.

Though its security and dangers surpassed those of any other place, it also had that many more outstanding craftsmen. Talent naturally gathered at the center.

Getting caught there would be the absolute worst of all possible outcomes, but he had a plan of his own.

He would enter through one of the dozens of secret passages Logger had dug.

Some would have been sealed after Logger’s abduction. He would check which remained open while also keeping Pale’s entry into the royal capital off the official record.

“Here it is.”

Berge squeezed himself into a well-concealed gap between rocks. His face twisted involuntarily as the earth pressed in on his whole body.

‘Logger, that bastard dug every one of these to fit his own body.’

Come to think of it, the secret passage had been this narrow when he went to fetch the Mana Ghost last time, hadn’t it?

His grumbling stopped after ten minutes. The passage was blocked, leaving him nowhere to go.

‘A wasted effort.’

He traveled all over the mountain range that way, finding eight blocked passages.

‘Surely they haven’t sealed all of them?’

Fortunately, they had not. The ninth passage went on and on. It descended ever deeper, just as one would expect of a route to an underground city.

After a long while, the dark passage came to an end. But this time it felt different. A light tap produced a hollow sound.

There was open space beyond this wall.

Berge broke through the wall in one stroke. A cloud of dirt and dust burst out.

Delighted, he poked his head through.

WHOOSH

“... Who?”

‘Logger, you crazy fucking bastard...’

And his eyes met those of Louise Berft, who stood holding an axe with dirt all over her face.