Chapter 33 - You Have Been Useless

Ten packets of premium Seniel powder, and two packets of spoiled Seniel powder.

With twelve packets in all, Berge returned to the tower. Logger, the first floor's resident haunting, was the first to greet him.

"You're back."

"Nothing unusual happened, I trust?"

"No."

"And the mana cannons?"

"I've reinforced them and increased their firepower. I made a few more, too."

Twenty mana cannons stood proudly aimed at the entrance.

Not bad.

The rest of the floor, however, looked terribly empty. Logger had set up a makeshift workshop in one corner, but that was all.

No matter how he looked at it, this was woefully inadequate for a Demon King's tower.

"I'd like you to remodel the first floor a little more."

"I don't have enough equipment. I did set up a makeshift workshop, but everything is so substandard..."

"Sounds as though you're telling me to buy you some."

"... Of course not. Haha."

'Let's see.'

[319092pt]

Quite a few points had accumulated during his brief absence, thanks to Hillen Cargill's failure and his kidnapping of the imperial princess.

Most of them would go to his creditor, but surely he could spend some.

[Hell's Forge - 50000pt

Modeled after a typical workshop used by the Demon Realm's smiths. Contains everything one would expect to find in a workshop. Integrates with the tower and assumes a suitable form.]

[Interference Removal (Lowest Grade) - 10000pt

Uses demonic energy to suppress a minute amount of dimensional interference.]

In his previous life, he had never summoned anything like a forge. Every demonic energy point he had went toward removing dimensional interference or summoning demonic creatures.

[Balrog - 5000000pt]

[Hydra - 10000000pt]

'I used to have quite a few balrogs, too.'

Now, however, he couldn't even contemplate it. If there was anything he missed about those days, it was his overflowing hordes of demonic creatures.

He purchased five instances of lowest-grade Interference Removal.

[Some dimensional interference dissipates.]

There wasn't much difference. Breathing was just a little easier.

It was a bit shitty, but demonic energy was extremely inefficient when it came to interference, so he accepted it.

[Installing Hell's Forge.]

[Location - First floor.]

RUMBLE

The tower began to shake. Logger staggered in alarm. The ground writhed as it summoned the workshop.

It was filled with all manner of tools and facilities, including a bubbling furnace, raging flames, and a glacier from the Demon Realm that boasted extreme cold.

[Hell's Forge automatically conceals all traces of itself when someone without the Demon King's permission enters.]

Logger blinked at Hell's Forge, which had abruptly appeared and crushed the temporary workshop he'd built.

"... Uh, this..."

"That should do it."

"You mean I can use this...?"

"I'm telling you to remodel the entire first floor however you like. Don't just set up mana cannons. Think about how to wipe out the heroes more effectively."

"Of course!"

GASP

"So this is a Demon Realm workshop...!"

Logger breathed heavily. He rushed past Berge toward the furnace.

"This furnace has a very unusual shape."

"The Demon Realm has something called bloodfire stone. Feed it demonic energy, and it grows hotter than most lava. The entire furnace is made of bloodfire stone. You melt metal by injecting demonic energy, without having to light a fire."

"Heat from a mineral rather than fire. How unusual. Ohhh, this looks alive!"

"Its core is a creature called a Frirose, which lives parasitically in glaciers. Its unusual ability to consume heat and release cold makes it last almost indefinitely. It's often used for quenching."

"Wonderful! This is absolutely wonderful!"

It wasn't simply the unfamiliar technology. Having spent most of his dwarven life in workshops, Logger knew that every piece of equipment was of the highest quality. The furnace, smelting facilities, and everything else had been arranged with a craftsman's movements in mind.

"I'll do my utmost to remodel the first floor!"

"Hehehe." Logger drooled.

'... This should be all right, shouldn't it?'

Of course. Logger had already screwed over the expedition with some fairly impressive mana cannons. He would manage on his own.

Berge was beginning to understand his personality. A man utterly obsessed with his craft. A simple fellow who was perfectly content so long as that craving was satisfied.

Berge climbed to the next floor. It was still completely empty.

'How should I fill this place?'

Before, he'd simply packed it full of demonic creatures. He'd scattered a few traps around and laid it out like a maze, hadn't he?

'That's not a bad option either.'

Heroes startled by the first floor's mana cannons would climb to the second floor on high alert. But what if, instead of another unconventional setup like the first floor, they found something entirely by the book?

That confusion would be fairly effective too. Suspecting there must be something more, they would expend a great deal of mental energy.

He climbed to the third floor. With even the second floor still lacking, thinking about the third was a long way off.

At last, the fourth floor. The first thing Berge heard was the sound of something slicing through the air. The first thing he saw was a sword blade flying toward him.

Golden aura rippled around it.

A fairly decent move. Had her opponent not been a Demon King, and had this not been a Demon King's tower, it might have been sharper and inflicted a real wound.

CLANG

The aura shattered. With her blade caught in his hand, Kaede swallowed a groan.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"... You filthy Demon King!"

Berge flung Kaede away. She broke her fall, landed, and charged again. Irritated, he struck the back of her neck and knocked her unconscious.

"I told her not to."

Ernyan, who had quietly watched, murmured nonchalantly.

"You didn't try hard enough."

"I couldn't stop her. She demanded to know why I was siding with the Demon King instead of thinking about how we could get through this together."

"..."

Honestly, Berge wanted to ask her that himself.

"Get along with her."

"I'm trying."

He tossed her the bag containing the Seniel powder.

"Premium grade? And ten packets at that. What's this?"

"Spoiled Seniel powder. I got it for free."

"Thank you. Honestly, I thought you'd only buy one packet."

"I simply didn't want the bother of making several trips. Can you form a contract with a high-ranking spirit using that?"

"I'll have to try."

Berge decided to resolve a question he'd been harboring all along.

"Summoning a high-ranking spirit means your abilities have improved... I'm hardly one to say this, but this place is utterly incompatible with a spirit summoner."

Mana was scarce in the tower, and spirits fed on pure mana.

Demonic energy and spirits were virtually polar opposites.

"That's true, of course. But it helped, too. Since mana was scarce, I worked to achieve the greatest efficiency with as little mana as possible. My control over mana improved. The elixirs you gave me helped as well."

And...

Ernyan swallowed the last of her words.

There was no need to tell him that repeatedly exhausting the mana in her mana heart had fully integrated the remnants of elixirs that had lain dormant throughout her body, not yet completely absorbed.

He treated her reasonably well, but he was still a Demon King.

"I see."

Berge nodded.

"If you think summoning a high-ranking spirit will let you escape, you're mistaken."

"I don't."

"If you're caught trying, you'll lose everything you've enjoyed so far. There won't be a second chance."

"Nobody climbs Erjest after only just managing to contract a high-ranking spirit."

The same went for descending it.

"Keep this dim-witted bitch under control. If she runs away, it's your responsibility."

"... That's rather unfair. I've been behaving better than anyone."

"It's called collective responsibility."

"... Have you been to Felto?"

"Not yet. I'll investigate a little more, then clean the place out."

"Aha."

"Well, good luck."

He waved and climbed to the fifth floor. Passing the empty throne, he entered the adjutant's office to find a red-eyed Gordon rifling through documents.

"What are you doing now?"

"Welcome back, my lord. Please forgive me for being too busy with work to come greet you."

Gordon answered without even turning his head.

"Work?"

"Didn't you tell me to find a way to ruin someone named Jetoson?"

"Yes, I did."

He had considered assigning it to Granada, then remembered Gordon would be idle and told Granada to pass the task on to him.

"Have you found a way, then?"

"Not yet, but I believe I will soon. No, I'll make certain of it."

"You can take your time."

"No!" Gordon shouted.

"On my name as Gordon, the Demon Training Academy's top graduate, I will wash away the disgrace of being useless!"

Useless? He'd never said that.

Berge frowned. He hadn't particularly thought so, either.

But on reflection, it was true. Granada was building up a mercenary company, and Ernyan had played a major role in stopping Hillen Cargill.

But Gordon? He had done nothing. Nothing at all. If anything, he'd stood beside Berge and objected to every little thing. That made him a liability, in fact.

Granted, he hadn't raised any more objections since they stopped Hillen Cargill.

"Well, you have been useless so far."

"... I swear I will!"

"All right. Do your best."

"Yes!"

Berge entered his own office. Settling into a cushioned chair, he reviewed the situation thus far.

"I don't think I need to kidnap any more princesses or princes just yet..."

Having too many in such a short span would only cause problems.

"Oh, right. The elves."

He remembered his promising plan to buy all the elven slaves and use them as advance troops. But most of the hundred thousand gold was in Hillen Cargill's hands.

HUM

Just then, the crystal orb vibrated.

"Remarkable timing. I was just about to contact you myself."

It was Hillen Cargill.

『You were going to contact me?』

"Elves. Buy every elf available at the slave market."

『Elves? You intend to use them like Granada?』

『In that case, I've called at just the right time.』

"What is it?"

『Aman Katrash has returned to his family home. He repented of his past, and the head of the family forgave him.』

『He has become the family's heir.』

"Oh?"

It was welcome news. It felt as though he had taken a great step toward conquering the continent.

"Didn't you say he was a wastrel? Even as an only son, he can't have been forgiven easily."

『Who do you think I am? I may have failed once, but the reputation I've built is hardly insignificant.』

『I also invested some of the money there. I made it very clear that I was investing because I trusted Aman Katrash.』

Of course.

Wastrel or not, he was an only son who had become sickly after his aura core was destroyed. His father could hardly help feeling pity. Add the endorsement and investment of a successful hero like Hillen Cargill to that?

That settled it.

It was safe to say there were few advantages greater than that.

"Excellent."

『I'll pass your orders on to him. And I'll contact you again if anything noteworthy happens.』

"Good."

Berge smiled in satisfaction.

Everything was going smoothly.

"Though it is a little unsettling that the Heroes' Guild isn't doing anything..."

Even in his life before regression, they had acted only near the very end. After he had brought down several kingdoms, they began deploying heroes in earnest and drove him to his death.

'Which means I still have time.'

Back then, he had simply thought they were frightened and cowering. But there must have been complicated circumstances among the humans.

'I'll have to ask Hillen later.'

And while he was at it, investigate the hero with the red sword who had killed him.

Berge sank deeper into his chair.

* * *

Failure to defeat the Demon King.

And failure to rescue the princess.

Apart from the Heroes' Guild, the party most sensitive to these two pieces of news was naturally Hilderan, which had commissioned the expedition.

At first, when half the expedition, including Watton Collo, descended the mountain after suffering devastating losses, the spark of hope had not yet died.

"Watton Collo isn't even worthy of being a hero."

"The princess was kidnapped, yet he fled without even finding the tower."

"We still have Hillen Cargill. Isn't he so powerful that someone like Watton Collo can't even compare?"

Hilderan's ministers doggedly disparaged Watton Collo and his companions. Though unease lingered in their hearts, they desperately prayed that Hillen Cargill would rescue the Crown Princess.

"Your Majesty, Hillen Cargill has descended the mountain! A failure—a complete failure!"

Even Hillen Cargill's failure was the worst possible outcome, one they had never wanted.

"... Where is Hillen Cargill?"

"He is reportedly holding a press conference in the Principality of Asoin."

The Principality of Asoin was one of the constituent members of the Traparta Union.

"Insolent wretch! Having failed a hero's journey undertaken on Hilderan's commission, he should prostrate himself before Your Majesty at once, report every last detail, and ask to be punished...!"

The ministers bristled.

"Your Majesty! We cannot let Hillen Cargill get away with this! He must be summoned immediately and held accountable!"

"He must be held accountable!"

"... He will be."

The king of Hilderan's gaze turned cold.

"Request the Principality of Asoin's cooperation immediately, and dispatch a knight order to bring Hillen Cargill here."

"Your Majesty, it is customary to overlook a hero's failure. If we hold those who risk their lives in battle accountable for failing, who will fight Demon Kings for Hilderan?"

"I have already endured enough!"

The king roared. The minister offering counsel bowed his head.

"The Crown Princess is the kingdom's heir. She is its future. Even taking an army there at once and razing those snowy mountains would not be enough. Yet I restrained myself. Because that is the custom! Because we must not raise an army with a Demon King as our pretext! Because I believed that if I waited just a little longer, the hero Hillen Cargill would rescue the Crown Princess!"

The king growled.

"And what was the result? Is this what I wanted? Or is it what you wanted?"

"Your Majesty."

"If you know what that child means to me, and to Hilderan, do not tell me to endure any longer. I am already exercising considerable restraint simply by not marching north with an army this instant."

"The Heroes' Guild will not stand idly by."

"Are you a minister of Hilderan or a spy for the Heroes' Guild? Do you fear those wretches in that paltry guild more than Hilderan?"

"..."

"What are you waiting for? Request their cooperation at once and send the knights to bring the hero here! If he refuses, you may drag him here by force!"

"As you command!"

One of the Kingdom of Hilderan's five finest knight orders departed for the Traparta Union.