Chapter 36 - Find the Dwarf

Everything that happened in the tower was conveyed to its master, from the most trivial details to matters of importance.

Something unusual had happened on the fourth floor.

'Unpleasant.'

Pure mana had suddenly surged up inside the Demon King's tower, which overflowed with demonic energy. That alien presence was intensely irritating and bothersome.

"You succeeded."

"Thanks to you."

CRACK!

"Urgh...!"

Kaede collapsed, coughing up blood.

"She's improved."

"She absorbed some of the mana when I summoned the spirit."

Ernyan answered casually, without even looking at the fallen Kaede. Berge surveyed his surroundings. The fourth floor had changed.

"Tell her that if she keeps this up, I'll throw her in the dungeon for good."

"You won't tell her yourself?"

"Except when I first kidnapped her, I've never met her with both her eyes open and fully conscious."

He had been letting it slide because it was earning him quite a few demonic energy points, but his patience was nearing its limit.

'It's remarkable I've tolerated this much. I've gone soft.'

It was probably because Ernyan had been the first person he kidnapped after his regression. She had willingly gone along with his intentions, so he had given Kaede a chance, assuming she would do the same.

But that ended now.

"Well..."

So that was the spirit.

Behind Ernyan stood a spirit he had never seen before—a woman whose presence was more powerful than that of any spirit that had roamed the fourth floor until now.

"Nice to meet you, Demon King. I'm Nairuniel, a high-ranking water spirit."

She held out a hand for him to shake.

"..."

Were there spirits who were friendly toward Demon Kings? No. That thought made him suspicious.

"What are you scheming?"

"Don't misunderstand. It's not as though I like demons either. But you and Ernyan..."

"That's quite enough, Lady Nairuniel."

Ernyan clamped a hand over Nairuniel's mouth. The high-ranking spirit flailed her limbs, making muffled noises.

"... What are you doing?"

"Lady Nairuniel is rather talkative."

"No, I—mmph!"

Watching their banter, which looked like a theatrical routine, suddenly stirred his curiosity.

The tower transformed mana into demonic energy.

"I've never brought spirits into a tower before, so I don't know..."

And spirits were crystallizations of pure mana.

"Will you become a dark spirit if you stay here?"

"You think this paltry amount of demonic energy could corrupt me? That's an insult!"

"If not, never mind."

"You insult me like that and say 'never mind'? Apologize! What do you take me for?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Ernyan bowed repeatedly. Berge snorted and left the fourth floor.

* * *

After seeing Nairuniel, the high-ranking water spirit, he realized he had paid far too little attention to himself.

He had plenty of excuses.

He had purchased the elf Granada and sent him out onto the continent, kidnapped a dwarven hero, stopped the hero Hillen Cargill, abducted the Ninth Princess, and worked on his grand plan.

Berge had indeed been busy since descending upon Arain.

But those were nothing more than excuses. Ultimately, a Demon King's own combat strength mattered most.

Yet Berge had given no thought to increasing his own strength, and his efforts had been negligible. At most, he had consumed a few elixirs or spent some demonic energy points to lift a tiny fraction of the dimensional interference.

'As I am now, I'd lose even to that idiot Ugar.'

He would lose even if they fought in his own tower.

Things might be different in the Demon Realm, but there was a vast difference between the dimensional interference imposed on Ugar and that imposed on him.

That was why those fools Ugar and Drakson dared bare their fangs at him. They thought what they saw before them was all there was.

Though Berge had died once and was now following a different path, his fundamental nature had not changed.

He revered power, prioritized strength, and ruthlessly removed anything that stood in his way.

That was why he had no desire to put up with those two irritating Demon Kings for long.

"..."

The problem was that no viable method came to mind just yet.

"... Perhaps it's time I went out for a change."

He reined in his rising fighting spirit and decided to join the Poil Orcs on a hunt, checking on how they were doing at the same time.

Keeping his combat instincts sharp was important too.

Berge burst out of his office.

* * *

Erjest was vast.

All the more so because it was not a single mountain, but a mountain range. Countless monsters lived there, and those that struggled desperately to survive its harsh conditions were stronger than anyone could imagine.

To humans, it was forbidden territory they could never hope to enter.

To monsters, it was an arena of struggle for survival.

And to Berge, it was a sturdy barrier that kept out expeditions of heroes, as well as a prison that prevented the princesses from escaping.

"It is an honor to welcome you."

Krutu, chieftain of the Red Frost tribe, bowed his head.

The Red Frost tribe, which had relocated to a peak not far from the tower, had grown considerably. At Berge's arrival, they all knelt in reverence.

"Your tribe has grown quite a bit."

"We have united three tribes. All thanks to the power you bestowed upon us, my lord."

Although they had absorbed three tribes, their numbers had only roughly doubled. He could easily imagine how fierce the fighting had been.

Then again, how many monsters would meekly say, "Yes, of course," when someone else announced they would rule over them? Their roots lay with demons, after all.

The Poil Orcs had even bared their fangs at him, a Demon King.

"You've lost quite a bit of fur, too."

"It began falling out after we received your blessing, my lord. Even so, we barely feel the cold."

Poil Orcs were orcs whose hides and fur had developed to survive the cold. Now that their bodies, strengthened by demonic energy, no longer felt the chill, it was only natural for their fur to fall out.

"There's no need to dress up your hair loss that much."

Still, losing the hair on their heads was rather unsightly.

"... Please ride this one."

Krutu made a determined effort to change the subject. He had brought an enormous frost wolf over three meters long. The silver subtly mingled in its blue mane was quite beautiful.

WHINE...

WHIMPER...

"Is it yours?"

"Yes, it is, but I don't know why it's suddenly acting like this..."

"It's only natural."

Frost wolves were fairly sensitive monsters. It could perceive the Demon King's stature directly, and that frightened it. Normally, that gulf alone would have made it docile, but Berge and frost wolves were fundamentally incompatible.

"Behave yourself before I roast you whole."

WHINE...

But even that aversion could not overcome the fear of death. With a little of its fur singed, the frost wolf grew docile. Berge mounted it, and the warriors of the Red Frost tribe began running in unison.

As though it had been waiting for them, the snow began to fall.

After they had run for some time, a frozen drake came into view in the distance, thundering about.

Its bright yellow eyes swept over the Poil Orcs and then Berge. The killing intent that had briefly surfaced vanished as its gaze reached Berge. It turned its head away.

But that indifference was merely a reaction to the demonic energy, an effort to suppress its instincts. If they directed killing intent at it, its savage nature would soon reemerge.

"Allow us to demonstrate our prowess."

"Are you confident?"

"With the power you have granted us, my lord, anything is possible."

It wasn't. What Berge had bestowed was merely an elixir saturated with demonic energy, and that energy had only awakened Krutu's forgotten nature as a demonic creature.

It was no tremendous gift, just a momentary catalyst, while the frozen drake was a beast fairly high up in Erjest's food chain.

Even Berge in his current state could not easily overpower it. It could effortlessly devour dozens of Poil Orcs on its own.

Even so, Berge nodded.

"The Demon King has given his command! Let's go!"

ROOOAR!

With Krutu in the lead, the Poil Orcs kicked off from the snow. The frost wolves roared. The frozen drake bared its teeth.

WHOOSH!

White frost spewed from its maw, coating the snow with ice. Krutu narrowly dodged it and tugged on his frost wolf's fur.

The wolf leaped high and raced up the frozen drake's arm. The beast thrashed, but Krutu kept his balance with almost miraculous wolf-riding skill.

Rough demonic energy coated his crude blade.

CLANG!

The frozen drake's scales remained unpierced. Instead, the blade broke.

But the effort had not been meaningless. There was a tiny gap. Though the blade had failed to break through the frozen drake's scales, it had succeeded in scratching them.

"I do like his fighting spirit."

The frozen drake's thrashing swept the Poil Orcs away. Even so, Krutu was putting on an astonishing performance.

He shoved his hand into the narrow gap and hung on. He tore at it with his teeth. Taking weapons passed to him by his tribesmen, he gouged the wound wider.

The battle continued for a long time. Dozens of Poil Orcs fell. But in the end, the Poil Orcs prevailed.

After bursting the beast's vulnerable eye, Krutu roared. He split open the fallen frozen drake's chest and extracted its heart.

A monster's mana-filled heart was an elixir in its own right, though its purity and quality were inferior to proper magical herbs or elixirs.

"I dedicate the glory of this battle to the Demon King! Glory to the Demon King!"

"Glory to the Demon King!"

"Glory to the Demon King!"

Krutu knelt and offered up the heart.

The pulsing mana suddenly reminded Berge of a moment before his regression.

'Come to think of it, around this time, Drakson...'

He had obtained it. That had marked the beginning of his explosive growth.

Before his regression, it had been the only thing Berge envied about Drakson.

"I must return. I grant that to you."

"Th-thank you!"

Krutu pressed his head to the ground.

Berge hastily turned his mount around.

* * *

Louise Berft, Second Princess of the dwarven kingdom, had come up empty time and time again.

"Logger, you son of a bitch!"

The story had been a lie from the outset, so naturally he wasn't there. But having seen Logger's necklace as proof, Louise believed he had hidden himself better than she had expected.

"Your Highness, we cannot continue. Ormus has issued an ultimatum."

No nation looked kindly on another country's army entering its territory.

Louise had negotiated permission beforehand, promising dwarven equipment, but that could only buy her so much time.

In particular, the dwarves had gone beyond Tarta, the agreed search area, and were scouring nearby cities as well, causing damage. The dissatisfaction of Ormus's citizens had reached its peak.

The king of Ormus would no longer stand by, and he issued an ultimatum.

Unless they wanted war, they had to withdraw.

"It's not as though he's telling us to leave this instant."

"It amounts to exactly that."

"I can't give up like this. One last place. Let's search just one last place before we leave."

"We have already searched every inch of Tarta. The surrounding area as well."

Her guard knight, Volbov, believed that if they had failed to find him so far, further searching would yield the same result.

"I believe that man deceived us."

"But why? Besides, Logger's necklace was genuine."

Volbov had no real answer to that.

"And there's still one place left."

"There is not."

"Think about it. Logger's a coward. Someone like him wouldn't hide somewhere he could be found so easily."

Especially after that man had spotted him, wouldn't he have hidden somewhere even deeper?

"Wouldn't that be the perfect place?"

A mountain near Tarta.

"That is a volcano. It has shown signs of erupting for several years, and no one goes there."

"For all the fuss, it hasn't had a proper eruption."

"It could erupt this very instant."

"But the humans of Tarta haven't abandoned their city because they think it will be safe for at least a few more years. Think about it. Everyone's too afraid of the volcano to go there. What better place for Logger to hide?"

"It would be a terrible place. If he's a coward, he's all the less likely to have gone there."

"No. My instincts tell me otherwise."

"Even so, you cannot go."

"Volbov. I'm not trying to persuade you. I'm informing you."

"But that is a Demon King's territory!"

Yes, that was the problem. Half of Ormus was covered in tropical jungle, and Tarta was a city that lay on its fringe.

And in that jungle, one of the five Demon Kings had built a tower and made his lair.

"And you are a princess, Your Highness. Please remember that."

"No, I'm not a princess."

Louise smiled murderously.

"I'm an executioner. An executioner here to cut off Logger's head. I'm going to snap that bastard's neck."

"..."

"The dwarven knights are with me. However powerful a Demon King may be, killing them all and kidnapping me would mean declaring war on the entire continent. Do you think my royal father would sit idly by? Besides, there's already a precedent. Unless he's an idiot..."

The dwarven kingdom had a complex web of ties to numerous kingdoms. The equipment it produced was indispensable to other nations.

"That was two hundred years ago."

A foolish Demon King had once kidnapped the dwarven Crown Prince. The furious king had appealed to every nation for assistance, offering vast quantities of equipment in return.

As a result, a wave of enthusiasm for slaying the Demon King had swept across the continent. Naturally, the Demon King had been unable to withstand the overwhelming numbers and lost his head.

"Two hundred years isn't that long for a Demon King."

Louise gathered her equipment.

"Don't worry. We'll take a quick look and come straight back out."

"... Understood."

In the end, he could not stop her. Volbov prayed over and over that the Beast Demon King would remember the past and leave the princess alone.

* * *

"... Who's coming where?"

"Louise Berft."

"Why is that crazy dwarf bitch coming here?"

PTUI!

Drakson spat out the meat he had been chewing. His appetite vanished.

"You are aware that Louise arrived in Ormus with soldiers some time ago."

"How could I not be? She even bribed the king of Ormus to find someone."

"The search was centered on Tarta."

"And?"

"Apparently, after searching all of Tarta and the surrounding area without finding what she wanted, she headed for Mount Merkon."

"That fucking bitch!"

CRUNCH!

An entire bone crumbled in Drakson's grip. His demonic subordinates trembled in the thick demonic energy.

"She should go home quietly if she couldn't find him, not come barging into my territory!"

"What will you do?"

"..."

He wanted to seize her immediately and rip her head off. But she was a princess of the dwarven kingdom. Laying a careless hand on her without any preparations would bring a truly disastrous turn of events.

Yet he could not simply let her pass all the way to Mount Merkon.

"It's almost ready. I cannot let her interfere now. Send monsters and demonic creatures to stop her. Whatever happens, that bitch must not reach the summit of Mount Merkon."

"Yes, my lord."

"And who was she looking for again?"

"A dwarf named Logger. She claims he disappeared in Tarta."

"Find him. Find him at all costs and put him in front of that crazy bitch before she pushes her way through."

"Yes, my lord."

Casey disappeared.

"Damn it, all this because of one dim-witted dwarf...!"

Drakson ground his teeth.