Chapter 29 - Jespine

It really had been a coincidence.

Immediately after he released the expedition, Ernyan came to see Berge.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“I don't think you're in any position to ask favors.”

“I know where one of the kingdom's high-ranking nobles keeps a secret storehouse.”

“Name it.”

“I need Seniel powder.”

“The powder used for spirit contracts?”

“Yes.”

Several hundred years ago, an elf named Seniel had pledged allegiance to a human kingdom. At the king's request, she created an aid to help humans form contracts with spirits more easily. That was Seniel powder.

“Isn't your blood more effective?”

But the powder was merely an aid for those with poor affinity for spirits. Ernyan, who already had spirit contracts and displayed exceptional talent, had no particular need for it.

“I'll mix it with my blood. As you know, there's almost no mana in the tower, so I can't do without some help.”

“Are you planning to contract another spirit?”

“Yes.”

“An intermediate spirit?”

“Who knows?”

Her answer was vague, but Berge could more or less guess.

A high-ranking spirit.

'I think this caused quite a stir in my previous life, too...'

There were not many spirit summoners among humans. Those who had contracted high-ranking spirits were rarer still—few enough to count on one hand.

She had contracted such a spirit at the young age of twenty-seven. He remembered Hilderan promoting her achievement far and wide, and human spirit summoners from across the continent flocking to the kingdom.

Yet now she was proposing to form that contract a full three years earlier.

'What's different?'

She had been kidnapped, unlike before.

She had spent several months living in the tower.

But wouldn't that be a disadvantage instead?

He studied her, only to receive a bright smile in return. Well, what would knowing accomplish? It wasn't particularly important.

“Payment up front.”

“It's in the Felsen region of the Kingdom of Akan. There's a secret residence in a fortress called Felto. The storehouse is beneath it.”

“They've hidden it quite far away.”

“That way, even if trouble arises, it won't be confiscated.”

“And you managed to find out.”

“Spirits see quite a lot, and tell me about it.”

She disclosed more detailed information about the noble's storehouse.

“It's the secret storehouse of one of Hilderan's most powerful nobles, so there should be quite a lot of embezzled money there.”

“Should a princess be telling a Demon King something like that about her kingdom?”

“They've effectively smuggled the kingdom's wealth abroad, so wouldn't that make it all right?”

'I'll have to go myself.'

He wanted to see for himself how things were unfolding on the continent. Fortunately, that was possible because he had not been publicly exposed as a Demon King.

“Seniel powder should be relatively easy to obtain in the Kingdom of Akan.”

Human spirit summoners were anything but common. Naturally, facilities catering to them were scarce, and only somewhere like Akan, the magic kingdom, would let him readily find what he wanted.

“I'll keep that in mind.”

And so he had descended the mountain.

“If I'd known you were slacking off like this, I'd have sent you instead.”

“No, how does any of this look like—”

“Who the hell are you?”

The mercenary who had driven Granada into a corner barely managed to regain his stance. His grip tightened around his sword.

“The owner of the slave you're tormenting.”

“Bullshit!”

“Exactly! Bullshit!”

The mercenary and Granada shouted a second apart.

The mercenary gritted his teeth.

It felt like watching an utterly childish play. The idea that someone of that caliber was a slave was ridiculous, and so was their insistence on maintaining the claim.

He could only see it as them toying with him and his men.

'Who is he? Why is someone this powerful in a backwater like Hortonwork...?'

“And who are you lot?”

“...”

“So you have no intention of answering. Even though I answered you.”

Berge smiled. The killing intent lodged in that smile made the mercenaries tremble.

A newly summoned Demon King was weak. Dimensional interference made them so. It sought to keep the dimension safer by suppressing invaders and empowering heroes.

There was only one way to eliminate that interference: use the tower and demonic energy points to distort the interference imposed upon them.

Alternatively, they could strengthen themselves with elixirs or demonic energy points, increasing their total power even while remaining under those restrictions.

Berge had not had the resources for that.

All his demonic energy had gone to the other Demon Kings in exchange for money, and he had consumed only a handful of elixirs. Those had yielded just a small amount of demonic energy.

But that was enough.

His power was not suppressed in its entirety. It was a matter of proportion. Ten percent of a strong person's power was inevitably different from ten percent of a weak person's.

And Berge was a Demon King who had earned the distinction of being “one of the greatest of all time” even at the Demon King Military Academy, with its history spanning thousands of years.

Naturally, even his restricted power was exceptional.

And he was not merciful enough to tolerate an insolent “human” daring to look him straight in the eye.

“When someone gives you something, returning the favor is common courtesy.”

The Demon King's flames surged briefly.

When they subsided, sharp claws remained. Dark red scales lightly covered his skin.

“A d-demon...!”

The mercenaries recognized the demonic energy shimmering with the flames. They fell to their knees beneath the oppressive force bearing down on their bodies.

'Is it all right for him to reveal his demonic energy so openly?'

It was blatant enough to make Granada wonder. And its very blatancy sent a shudder through him.

Only one person could resist that tyranny.

GRIND!

“You filthy demon!”

Brilliant blue aura wrapped around the mercenary's entire body. It pushed back the demonic energy and propelled him forward.

The honed blade rose larger than before, severing the flow of demonic energy. Freed from the pressure, the mercenaries gasped for breath.

But helping his subordinates was not his goal.

CLACK!

A thick military boot planted itself on the ground. His muscles swelled to their utmost.

BOOM!

He launched himself forward, shattering the ground.

The distance between them vanished in an instant, as though he had teleported.

The moment Berge saw his opponent's figure, a line was drawn.

Compressed aura exploded. Space tore apart.

It was supremely fast. Supremely sharp and destructive.

'Where did someone like that suddenly come from...?'

Granada sprang to his feet without realizing it. This was certainly not the level of an ordinary mercenary. Nor was this the sort of man who would waste away in Hortonwork, hunting the paltry monsters that occasionally descended from the mountains.

'He won't lose, will he?'

A faint, very faint anxiety stirred within him. He could not imagine the Demon King he knew losing, but the opponent's slash was so swift and precise that the thought crossed his mind for an instant.

And then—

CLAAANG!

When fragments shattered by the shock wave grazed his cheek and flew past, when he saw the unruffled silhouette amid the clearing smoke, he realized his fears had indeed been groundless.

“You see...”

Berge held the sword in his hand. The aura that could cut through anything was blocked by black flames, unable to advance.

The mercenary's face flushed scarlet.

“When I descended into this world, I intended to cultivate something called patience.”

He had already failed once. He had followed the Guide, but he had also acted on his whims, more like a Demon King than anyone.

Looking back, it was remarkable that he had managed to raise his tower to twenty floors at all. Unlike the other Demon Kings, he had pushed ahead swiftly and recklessly; perhaps that had caught them off guard and delayed their response.

“In fact, I did hold back once.”

When kidnapping Logger, he had turned his back on a mere princess and fled.

He had had no choice. He could not reveal himself as a Demon King, and being so far from the tower had imposed even harsher restrictions on his power.

But that did not change the fact that his pride as a Demon King had been bruised.

“And now every worthless little shit is raising hell in my own front yard.”

Should he hold back here as well?

No. The restrictions in Hortonwork were harsher than in Erjest, but compared with those in the dwarven kingdom, they were practically nonexistent.

Besides, he could tolerate the princess's insolence because she had not known he was a Demon King. The man before him was another matter.

“W-who the hell are you...?”

CRACK!

The sword broke. A streak of fresh blood trickled from the mercenary's mouth.

“No ordinary demon.”

Just as you are no ordinary mercenary.

“But it no longer matters. The dead tell no tales, after all.”

WHOOSH!

The flames intensified.

They advanced, eating away at the aura. The mercenary screamed.

“Run!”

He collapsed with that final order. The mercenaries turned to flee.

“Who said you could leave?”

I never gave you permission.

Berge slowly took a step. As though space had folded, he cut off their escape.

He swept his hand through the panicking mercenaries. His elongated nails sliced through leather armor and stained their bodies with blood.

Then someone abruptly intervened. Kaede.

“A hero.”

Sensing the presence of his natural enemy, Berge's lips curved upward. Faced with that icy murderous intent, Kaede drew her cherished sword.

CLANG!

Her body swayed. The slash she barely managed was swallowed by the flames. Even so, she took a step forward.

She thrust her sword swiftly ahead, but a small explosion hurled her back. She rolled across the ground with a scream.

“Wait! You mustn't kill her!”

Berge's shadow fell over Kaede. His gaze turned toward Granada.

“That woman—that woman's a princess! You have to take her captive!”

“Is that true?”

“...”

“I asked you a question.”

Kaede bit her lip.

“... What do you intend to do with these men?”

“What are they to you?”

“They're knights sent to bring me back.”

“... I don't understand.”

“Circumstances forced me to sneak out of the imperial palace.”

“... Imperial palace?”

Not a royal palace?

“If you promise to spare them, I'll tell you who I am.”

Kaede's legs trembled. But she did not retreat.

“You don't seem to understand your position.”

“...”

“If you don't want to speak, don't. I can simply kill you all.”

“Jespine!”

She shouted urgently.

“I am Kaede Jespine, Ninth Princess of the Jespine Empire!”

* * *

The Jespine Empire.

Berge had few fond memories of Arain's greatest and most powerful empire.

Rather, they were all bad.

Thinking back, the moment his death had become inevitable was when he kidnapped Jespine's crown prince.

He had been doing quite well, and his pride as a Demon King had been sky-high. With one success after another, it was hardly surprising that his arrogance had reached into outer space.

He had believed he could take on Jespine, and kidnapped its crown prince. From that moment onward, the entire Heroes' Guild had sharpened its blades and come after him to kill him.

'Come to think of it...'

He recalled the Demon Kings' conversation at the Harmony of Towers.

[“The Jespine Empire's Ninth Princess has gone missing. I've been meaning to ask—surely that wasn't the work of anyone here?”]

[“I have no intention of provoking the empire.”]

[“Wasn't there talk of marrying the Ninth Princess to the king of Ormus?”]

“Did you run away because you didn't want to get married?”

“H-how did—mmph.”

The princess hastily clapped a hand over her mouth, but the damage was already done.

'The Kingdom of Ormus is nothing special.'

Its territory was fairly large, but half of it was dense forest and jungle, leaving its national strength utterly pathetic.

With no noteworthy fighters or outstanding heroes, there was nothing to fear from its retaliation.

'The problem is the Jespine Empire...'

Unlike Hilderan, Jespine had no firmly established heir.

The First Prince, Second Prince, First Princess, and Third Prince were competing with one another, while the younger princes and princesses chose their factions and fought in the shadows.

Eventually, the First Prince would oust all his siblings and become crown prince, but that was still in the future.

'There's no familial bond among the empire's royalty.'

They saw one another as bloodstained rivals.

'They might even be pleased to have one less competitor.'

Of course, the best course was not to provoke the empire at all. But how could he release a piece of meat that had rolled right into his front yard?

Especially when he had already revealed himself as a Demon King. Surely he ought to reap something from it.

There were other reasons, too.

The need to earn more demonic energy to repay his debt, and the confidence in himself he had gained through Hillen Cargill's hero's journey.

Thus, he was certain.

This was prey he could safely devour.

“You're coming with me.”

“Th-the knights...”

“I've kidnapped an imperial princess, no less. There ought to be witnesses. Your choice saved them.”

Not that they would know it.

Berge snatched Kaede up.

“You will stay here and continue carrying out my orders.”

“Yes.”

Berge and Granada vanished.

The injured knights remained unconscious until they were discovered by the city guards who had sensed the demonic energy and rushed to the scene.