Chapter 150 - Foresight

'Subordination?'

It meant belonging to something. The tower now belonged to Berge's tower.

Why? Because its master, Vivian Blunt, had become Berge Deias's servant?

'Absorption?'

One tower could absorb another? Was that even possible?

Without realizing it, Berge nodded as though entranced. The tower's system took that as assent.

And then...

[At the will of the superior entity - Berge Deias - the tower of - Vivian Blunt - will be absorbed into the tower of - Berge Deias - to which it is subordinate.]

Something extraordinary began.

RUMBLE!

The tower began to shake.

"Wh-what is this! Berge, what did you do!"

The intensity was nothing like before. It was so violent that the tower might collapse. Vivian struggled to steady herself.

All over the tower, people were toppling over and falling down.

"... Good question. What did I do?"

Berge muttered blankly. Unlike the heaving surroundings, he and the throne he sat on remained still. Like the eye of a storm, they were unaffected by any tremor or impact as the throne continuously displayed the tower's status.

[2%]

[33%]

[57%]

As the numbers climbed rapidly, the tower shook even harder.

"What is this! What is going on! What have you done!"

"I don't know either."

"It's saying my authority over the tower is disappearing!"

"Ah, so that's the notification you're getting."

'But if the tower is absorbed, what happens to the original tower?'

He didn't have long to wonder.

[100%]

[Absorption complete.]

[The tower of - Vivian Blunt - has been absorbed into the tower of - Berge Deias -.]

[- Vivian Blunt - loses her qualification as master of the tower.]

"My lord! What in the world happened?"

"Gordon?"

This place was no longer the Tower of Carnal Desire.

* * *

"Taking the Demon King of Carnal Desire as a servant..."

Berge shared everything with Gordon, his adjutant.

When Gordon first heard it, he could hardly believe it. But Berge would not lie for no reason.

'He said the Demon King of Carnal Desire was cornered.'

Gordon had heard that she had taken the blame for the dwarves Berge had abducted, and all hell had broken loose.

'Even so...'

To abandon every scrap of pride as a Demon King and offer herself as a servant to other Demon Kings.

Of course, he understood. Life was precious to everyone. But surely a Demon King, at least, ought to remain composed even in the face of death, Gordon thought.

That was his ideal Demon King: the strongest of them all, who would boldly confront and slaughter every human who dared covet his tower, no matter how many came.

'Though my lord is already a far cry from that.'

Instead of the Demon King himself, the Four Heavenly Kings and hundreds of mana cannons would greet the humans. And now he was even trying to build legs to avoid encountering them at all.

'I've changed a great deal too.'

Had this happened when he first descended, he might have grabbed the Demon King by the collar and demanded to know what the fuck he was talking about. In barely more than a year, he had grown all too accustomed to it all.

To this damned dimension called Arain, and to a Demon King named Berge who had thrown the Guide to the dogs.

Gordon inspected the tower in his absent lord's place. The first floor required the most attention.

Materials for the tower's legs were beginning to pile up there, and the place was overflowing with dwarves.

"Now, think about it, everyone!"

A hero named Logger was enthusiastically trying to persuade his fellow dwarves.

He had mounted the enormous blueprint he had drawn on one wall. Floating in front of it was a crystal ball projecting a hologram of the plans.

The dwarves, freed from their icy prisons, huddled before it and listened closely.

"How large were the golems you built in the Kingdom of Berft? Fifteen meters? Thirteen? No. A mere ten meters!"

By contrast, did they see these plans?

"The Demon King of Hellfire doesn't build on such a paltry scale. Twenty-two meters. A single leg is a full twenty-two meters long. And there will be eight of them!"

"The core will be replaced by the mage tower's core. If we get everything working properly and join it securely, the tower's power will make the connection more natural."

"Do that, and we can build it. A colossal golem no one has ever imagined or built before! We can see it! We can watch that golem traverse the snowy mountains!"

"If this doesn't set your heart racing, you don't deserve to call yourselves dwarven craftsmen!"

Logger snorted forcefully. Most of the craftsmen agreed with him.

They were bewildered by being abducted, finding themselves in a Demon King's tower, and suddenly being told to build a golem. But at heart, they were craftsmen obsessed with making things.

The newer, more original, and more impressive, the better.

"It certainly is impressive."

"A golem that moves the tower itself, with eight twenty-two-meter legs attached. My hands are itching to get to work."

"But is it possible?"

"If the tower replaces the core, why wouldn't it be? Honestly, with our current technology, we could build one around fifty meters tall. We're only limited to ten because we lack a core that can power it."

"True. If the core problem is solved..."

"Honestly, I'd like to take apart this tower that's supposed to serve as the core."

"Agreed."

The craftsmen began discussing it among themselves. Not one of them remained unmoved by the blueprint and Logger's ambitions.

But there was one major obstacle.

"Still, working for a Demon King..."

"Aren't we proud dwarves? How can we build a golem for a Demon King?"

"I want to build it, but I don't want to be branded a traitor to our people."

"Thinking of this golem attacking our homeland makes me a little..."

Their aversion to helping a Demon King.

And their fear that the golem they built might trample their homeland and their people.

"You needn't worry about that."

"What do you mean?"

"First, my lord has said he has no intention of attacking the Kingdom of Berft first."

This was something they had agreed on beforehand to persuade the dwarven craftsmen.

"Wait. Doesn't 'first' mean he will attack if trouble arises?"

One dwarf objected. The word 'first' carried many implications.

"If he gets hit first and does nothing, wouldn't that make him a sucker, not a Demon King?"

"... That's true."

"True? You think we can just let that pass?"

"My lord gave one more firm assurance. He said he would not invade the Kingdom of Berft, at least until he had decisively conquered the humans. He swore this on the first Demon Emperor and the Guide, so you can trust him. If you wish, I will stake my own power to interfere with the dimension as a hero as well."

"Hmm. If he's gone that far..."

Knowing what the first Demon Emperor and the Guide meant to demons, and what staking that power meant to a hero, the dwarves began to agree one by one.

"And second, you were 'abducted' and are cooperating only 'under duress.' Who could criticize you for desperately trying to survive?"

"That won't work. In the end, anyone harmed by the golem we build will curse us and try to kill us."

"What if someone testified that you truly had no choice? Someone with authority, whose word anyone would accept?"

"Is there such a person?"

"Isn't she right before your eyes?"

"Her Highness the Princess...?"

The craftsmen nodded again.

Louise Berft's words carried that much weight thanks to the love and familial affection the king and crown prince held for her.

"And there's one more thing."

"One more?"

"This is closer to a threat, but he said he would throw everyone who refuses to cooperate into the dungeon. And never let them out."

What if...

Logger lowered his voice to set the mood.

"What happens if you refuse, get locked up, and the legs are completed anyway? What if the tower then escapes the Empire and Hilderan?"

"... How dreadful."

"If the premise that the tower can serve as a core holds true, it could certainly move. He's not wrong."

"We'd have to rot in prison for the rest of our lives?"

"Exactly. You'd spend the rest of your lives sitting idle, unable to make anything!"

"... Good heavens!"

Watching the scene unfold like a play, Gordon felt certain that things would turn out according to his lord's plan.

It was then that it happened.

[The tower of the inferior entity - Vivian Blunt - has become subordinate to the tower of the superior entity - Berge Deias -.]

Gordon was the adjutant and the tower's temporary master in the Demon King's absence. As such, he could use its system.

'The tower has become subordinate?'

But the notification was difficult to believe.

He had never heard of such a thing. Did it even make sense for one tower to subordinate another?

But the strange developments didn't end there.

[Absorption.]

[The superior entity - Berge Deias - is absorbing the subordinate tower of the inferior entity - Vivian Blunt -.]

'Absorbing a tower?'

[7%.]

[25%]

[33%]

The tower began to shake.

Strange numbers filled his vision.

"Aaaah!"

"What's happening!"

"The tower is shaking!"

Screams rang out throughout the tower. Gordon steadied his swaying body and hurried up to the fifth floor.

The moment he threw himself onto the throne to control the tower, he was bounced off.

[The towers are merging.]

[Until completion, no one other than the tower's master may sit here.]

"What...?"

At that moment...

"...!"

A strange floating sensation made him feel as though his body was being compressed.

[100%]

[Absorption has been completed.]

[The tower of - Vivian Blunt - has become part of the tower of - Berge Deias -.]

[The tower's power is strengthened.]

"... Huh?"

Breathing hard, Gordon clenched his fist.

His strength had returned. More precisely, some of the dimensional interference weighing on him had been lifted.

Quite a lot of it, too.

The feeling of liberation was similar to when Berge had deliberately poured millions of demonic energy points into lifting the interference.

'What in the world?'

Just then, someone appeared on the empty throne.

It was Berge Deias, the cause of all this.

"My lord! What in the world happened?"

"Gordon?"

"What? Where are we?"

"... Demon King Vivian?"

But Berge wasn't the only one who had appeared on the fifth floor. No, it wasn't even the fifth floor anymore.

* * *

Berge first assessed the tower's condition.

What had been only five floors tall was now ten, and Vivian was in Berge's tower along with her servants.

'The towers merged. In the process, everyone in Vivian's tower was moved into mine.'

In that case, it was reasonable to conclude that Vivian's tower had been absorbed and vanished entirely.

'That's not all.'

The greatest change was in the dimensional interference. The interference constricting them had weakened. No additional demonic energy had been consumed.

The efficiency had simply increased. Almost twofold.

'That's insane.'

He recalled the message saying the tower's power had been strengthened. The functions of two towers had merged into one, yielding even greater efficiency.

"... I understand. So the towers merged when Demon King Vivian became your servant, my lord."

"Yes."

"To think the tower had such a power..."

"This is the first I've learned of it too."

"In any case, there's no downside for us."

Merging the towers had strengthened the tower itself and increased its efficiency.

Considering their plan to use demonic energy points to turn it into a golem and move it, they couldn't have asked for anything better.

"But then, what happened to Demon King Vivian's tower?"

"It must have disappeared."

"... Wouldn't the humans find that strange?"

A perfectly intact tower had vanished overnight.

"... I have a good idea about that."

"A good idea?"

"We'll spread a rumor. That some hero secretly defeated the Demon King of Carnal Desire."

"Will they believe it? There was no official hero's journey or raiding party. For that to have happened..."

"Even if they don't believe it completely, they'll have no choice but to find it plausible."

"What do you mean?"

"I tossed Vivian's horn to a mage tower."

Though he hadn't known things would turn out this way when he did it.

"With her tower gone and a piece of the Demon King circulating out there, wouldn't it be harder to believe she's alive?"

"... Pardon?"