Chapter 45 - What's With Him?

『"... So you've decided to join the hero's journey yourself?"』

Good heavens. Gordon's voice trembled through the crystal ball, steeped in denial.

"Didn't you agree to stop questioning me?"

『"This is different! A Demon King on a hero's journey! Teaming up with heroes to kill a fellow Demon King!"』

"There's no law against killing a Demon King."

『"Fighting between Demon Kings is expressly forbidden."』

"That doesn't mean I can't indirectly bring about his death."

『"You're only fooling yourself."』

"Anything is fine as long as you don't get caught."

『"..."』

Gordon fell silent. Berge's bombshell announcement, delivered only after he had already committed himself, left Gordon reeling. In the end, though, there was only one path open to him.

『"... If they discover you're a Demon King, you'll die, my lord."』

He was Berge's adjutant. Until they conquered the dimension of Arain and returned to the Demon Realm, they were in the same boat.

And strictly speaking, the prohibition against fighting among demons applied only to Demon Kings dispatched to other dimensions. If this were the Demon Realm, killing one another would hardly be anything remarkable.

'... That's nonsense.'

After all, this was Arain, not the Demon Realm.

And yet the one spouting that nonsense was the Demon King he served.

『"Fine. Fine, then. Let's say you kill Demon King Drakson. But do you really need to participate in the hero's journey yourself? It's far too dangerous."』

"Don't worry. I just need to conceal myself properly."

『"How is a Demon King supposed to hide his identity in front of heroes?!"』

Why were heroes called the natural enemies of Demon Kings?

Partly because they wielded the dimension's power, which opposed a Demon King's, but also because the instant either side revealed even a little of its strength, they detected each other.

Unable to hide their identities or act independently, Demon Kings and demons had their freedom of movement drastically restricted.

And Berge intended to willingly walk into a place teeming with heroes.

It was suicide.

『"Of course, I know you've acquired the power of the mythical beast called the Phoenix."』

Truthfully, Gordon had found it remarkable that he couldn't sense any demonic energy at all.

『"But that's only true for me. Heroes will be different."』

"Logger didn't recognize me."

『"Logger is a half-wit who barely qualifies as a hero!"』

"And I just met Roselle Charnt."

『"... Hic."』

『"Have you already been captur... If someone beside you is threatening you, my lord, blink one eye..."』

"Don't talk nonsense, Gordon. I'll handle it, so just do your own job properly. When exactly are you going to get that swindler into the Golden Moon Trading Company?"

『"About that..."』

Before Gordon could finish his excuse, Berge cut off the connection.

Not only was persuading him a bother, but Berge knew his own actions were a gamble.

'But it's a gamble I have to take.'

What if Drakson really did search the tower's records and uncover his demonic energy?

What if Grand Duke Alkain and the other Demon Kings learned the truth?

He clicked his tongue at the bleak future that readily took shape in his mind.

"Judging by how strongly that dark elf objected, you really are different from the other Demon Kings, my lord."

"Which is why I'm helping you."

Berge savored his tea, gazing steadily at Hillen Cargill.

"Don't you have a personal guard?"

"I did have a small personal guard, though hardly enough to call a raiding party. I still have a few subordinates, of course."

"Why don't you have a raiding party?"

"I was planning to form one."

Their eyes met. Berge was hardly incapable of picking up on the implication.

"You damn bastard. You blame me at every opportunity."

"But it's the truth. Until I dealt with the Demon King of Lust, I was just another hero."

He had possessed some name recognition, but not enough to form a raiding party of his own like the other great heroes.

Slaying the Demon King of Lust, however, had earned him fame, and Hillen Cargill's name had risen steadily.

"That was when I decided to stand on my own."

He had cut off his personal patrons and planned his future around his savings and sponsorship of the hero's journey itself.

"I realize I shouldn't say this in front of you, Lord Berge, but if that hero's journey had succeeded, I would be going from strength to strength now."

He would have formed a raiding party, conquered various towers, and developed his abilities. He knew his own shortcomings, after all.

"Well, with your abilities, that's a bit..."

"... I know I'm still lacking. But that will change with time."

"The Demon King of Lust?"

"... Yes."

Demon Kings used humanity's negative energy and the killing of heroes to lift dimensional interference and find a path forward.

Heroes, in turn, killed demonic creatures and demons, absorbing their power to advance to the next stage.

Just as heroes were prey that Demon Kings coveted, Demon Kings were elixirs that could strengthen heroes.

The renown of a Demon King slayer carried more than the symbolic weight of having killed one. It also meant they were a great hero who had absorbed a Demon King's power.

Thus, although Hillen Cargill was still lacking, the power he had absorbed from the Demon King of Lust lay dormant within his body.

"Master it as quickly as possible. To think a subordinate of mine could be this weak."

"... Even so, I could beat you as you are now, my lord."

"Do you really think so?"

Berge tapped his head. Hillen sighed.

"Anyway, what do you think Roselle Charnt will do?"

Berge had set two conditions and asked her to demonstrate her willingness to fulfill them.

Getting Hillen included was easy, but launching the hero's journey as soon as possible was honestly asking too much.

The Heroes' Guild, which was organizing it, was dragging its feet.

"She might simply put more pressure on the Heroes' Guild, or..."

"Or?"

"She might get the Kingdom of Akan involved. Akan could pressure the Heroes' Guild as a nation, or bring in troops."

"The other countries wouldn't stand by and let that happen, would they?"

"Which is why they would proceed discreetly."

The unwritten rule against crossing borders had arisen because shameless nations used hero's journeys as a pretext to swallow up other countries.

Ultimately, it had become a shackle binding every nation.

It applied even when the parties concerned had agreed to it. But if two countries reached an agreement and deliberately worked to deceive the continent, discovering it would be difficult.

"Akan in particular has all sorts of magic at its disposal, befitting its reputation as a kingdom of magic. They should be quite capable of concealing it."

"Would Ormus accept that?"

"Normally, absolutely not. But Ormus suffered heavy losses when the hero's journey failed. And with a prince dead as well, they'll want revenge by any means possible."

That was reasonably convincing.

"Of course, that's what I would do in her position. I can't know everything Roselle Charnt is thinking, so please consider it merely one possibility."

Hillen Cargill shrugged.

* * *

"A new member?"

Franz, deputy leader of the Crimson Hellfire raiding party, couldn't understand what his captain meant.

"Of course, I agree that we need to recruit new members."

"No, I'm saying I've already found one."

"...?"

"His name's Pale. His mana is remarkably pure for a human. Almost like an elf's, I'd say. I suspect he's a spirit summoner."

It was practically a unilateral announcement, but Franz took it in stride. Roselle doing whatever she pleased was nothing new.

"You seem quite taken with him."

"I've never seen fire mana that pure before."

"Is that so?"

She was already completely won over.

Long experience told him that persuading Roselle in her current state was impossible. Perhaps the one saving grace was that she had never once recruited anyone without good reason.

'Now I'm curious, too.'

If even someone as self-absorbed as Roselle spoke so highly of him, he was certainly no ordinary man.

"I'll look into his background to make sure there aren't any problems."

"His name's Pale. Red hair, red eyes. From Hilderan. Handsome, about 185 centimeters tall. Oh, and something worth noting: he has some connection to Hillen Cargill."

"Hillen Cargill?"

"Yes. When I asked him to join the raiding party, he boldly made a counteroffer. One condition was that we resume the hero's journey as soon as possible, and the other was that we include Hillen Cargill. He wouldn't go that far for a casual acquaintance."

"... Did you accept?"

Franz frowned. Roselle's dead comrades had been his comrades as well.

He, too, knew that none of this would have happened if Hillen had simply done his job. He disliked Hillen Cargill every bit as much as Roselle Charnt loathed him.

"Yes."

"Captain."

"I don't like Hillen either. But I can't deny he's useful. Honestly, he's stronger than you, isn't he?"

"He's like a child who's gotten his hands on a fine sword. Many of our members died because of him."

"It's not as though he did it on purpose."

"Just how extraordinary is this fellow for you to go this far?"

"He's weaker than you."

"All this for someone like that—!"

"But."

She propped her chin on her hand.

"His potential is far greater. Give him a little time, and even ten men like you attacking him together wouldn't stand a chance."

"...!"

Franz was strong. Naturally so. He was the deputy leader of the Crimson Hellfire raiding party, one of the finest on the continent.

"You expect me to pass up someone like that? Just because of someone like Hillen Cargill?"

Roselle's hunger for talent exceeded anything he could imagine. She could avenge her fallen comrades by killing the Beast Demon King.

Hillen Cargill had been indirectly involved in their deaths, but not intentionally. It had merely been his own incompetence.

And even that incompetence, on closer examination, was partly because the Beast Demon King had employed an unexpected tactic and proved stronger than anticipated.

"Hillen Cargill isn't just anyone, either."

Franz disliked him, but judged him objectively.

"Then how will you fulfill the condition of setting out as soon as possible? The Heroes' Guild isn't being very proactive."

Whatever the problem was, its current attitude differed from when it had first recruited heroes.

"It doesn't matter. We'll push them some more, and if they won't act, we can go in ourselves. The Beast's Tower is practically empty now anyway."

"Ourselves?"

"I've contacted the Kingdom of Akan."

"Will they get involved?"

"Those old fogeys are very interested in beastmen's bodies."

As was true of most demons, every part of a beastman's body, from hide to muscle, was a material of boundless research potential and practical value to mages.

And if it was a Demon King's hide and demonic energy...

"They've probably already set out."

"Ormus won't stand for—Wait, have you...?"

Crossing a kingdom's borders under the pretext of a hero's journey was a long-standing taboo.

But if the two kingdoms had agreed and cooperated thoroughly to conceal it, what could the other countries object to?

"Ormus lost a prince. And then they failed to get revenge and suffered enormous losses on top of it? With monsters running wild outside the Demon King's control, no less?"

Roselle smiled.

"They'll be begging us to do it."

"We won't be able to conceal it completely."

"We just need to strike and withdraw before it becomes a problem. We can't hide the tower collapsing, of course. I'll say only the Demon King was left, so I acted on my own."

"Even so, I doubt Jespine will stand idly by..."

"Think about that later. Do you really think the people at the top haven't considered that much?"

Roselle Charnt chuckled.

"Pale probably never imagined I'd go this far."

It had fallen into her lap by chance, but it worked out perfectly. She licked her lips.

"Whether he was trying to maneuver his way out of joining, or genuinely wanted to kill the Demon King..."

"I don't know what his relationship with Hillen Cargill is, why he wanted Hillen included in the hero's journey, or what he's scheming, but..."

Her eye sharpened like that of a hawk sighting its prey.

"I've given him what he wanted, so he's mine now. Once I have someone in my grasp, I never let him go."

She coveted that pure mana so badly.

Responding to her emotions, her mana gave off a faint heat.

* * *

"..."

"What's wrong?"

"No, nothing. I just had a strange feeling for a moment."

Ernyan shook her head.

- Could that be...?

Nairuniel popped out of nowhere, her eyes sparkling.

"Could it be what?"

- The arrival of a romantic rival? Someone's after the Demon King!

Ernyan let out a long sigh.

"Nairuniel, you really are..."

- Really am what?

"Like an idler with nothing better to do."

- It's true, so I took zero damage!

"What?"

- Do you know how boring the Spirit Realm is? It's nothing but dull kings and mindless low-ranking spirits.

- The Middle Realm is the best. It's thrilling. There's always something new. It makes a spirit glad to be alive.

- A forbidden love between a kidnapped princess and the Demon King who abducted her is an especially tantalizing, stimulating—

"The more I see of you, Nairuniel, the more I feel I need to improve my abilities as quickly as possible."

- So you can bring down the Demon King sooner?

"No. So you can't come out whenever you please anymore."

High-ranking spirits had free will. Powerful as they were, they could use their contractual bond to cross dimensions on their own, even without their masters summoning them.

Ernyan vowed to block that connection as soon as possible.

- That's so mean. After all the time we've spent together.

"It hasn't been that long."

- Anyway, what are you doing?

Ernyan knew Nairuniel was trying to change the subject, but let it pass.

"We're remodeling the first floor."

- Remodeling? Why are you doing that?

"Logger said he needed help, so I'm helping him."

- I'm asking why you're the one doing it.

"Because I'm going back to the pala—No, because I'm a captive. When your kidnapper tells you to do something, you have no choice if you want to survive."

- I don't think the Demon King told you to remodel the first floor, too.

"Logger asked for help. There aren't many of us in the tower. We ought to help each other."

- Just as I thought.

Nairuniel smiled knowingly.

- You love the Demon—

"Go die."

Logger paid little attention to their comic back-and-forth. It had been hard to listen to at first, but now he was used to it.

The same went for the princess's way of speaking, as though she were hiding something.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Amid the two women's voices, Logger's hammer struck the trap with vigorous blows.

- So what are you making, and how?

"I don't know. He asked for help, so I'm just helping."

Nairuniel turned her gaze to Logger. Feeling its sting, he spoke.

"My lord asked me to make unusual things that would defy everyone's expectations."

- And?

"Making something unusual, something unexpected, is simple. It means making something unfamiliar. So I just need to make something different from the ordinary Demon King's towers heroes know."

- But this is just an ordinary maze.

What Logger had asked Ernyan to build was a maze. Actually, it wasn't really complicated enough to deserve the name. Though it twisted a little, it was simple enough to navigate easily.

Instead of answering, Logger continued.

"So I thought: wouldn't killing them all before they could expect anything defy their expectations?"

- ... Huh?

"Hasn't the Demon King already done that?"

Nairuniel blinked. Ernyan quietly posed the question.

"That isn't enough! And this isn't simply a matter of reinforcing the mana cannons."

"Then...?"

"People are simpler than you might think. If there's a path, they follow it rather than go elsewhere. Princess, have you ever heard of an expedition or raiding party breaking through the walls of a maze and running straight to the exit?"

"No."

She certainly hadn't.

"Exactly. No expedition does that. In other words, once we build a maze, anyone who steps into the tower will run along the path without fail. Which means..."

Logger pointed to the completed front section.

- It looks ordinary.

"For now, yes."

HUMMM!

Logger lightly touched something, and cannon ports appeared along both walls.

"I'll have these running along the path all the way to the end. We'll lay out a red carpet made from their own blood."

Logger walked along the path, with Ernyan following him. At the end of the maze was a large open space.

"Once the mana cannons fire, they'll run faster. And they'll reach this spot."

The open space was roughly triangular, with gently rounded sides. Its entrance was narrow, and the moment anyone entered, walls enclosed them on all sides.

- What are you going to put here?

"I'll excavate the ground and install a trap that collapses when more than a certain amount of weight presses down on it. The instant it triggers, larger, more magnificent mana cannons will emerge and open fire all at once!"

"The expedition will have no choice but to take the hits defenselessly, and they'll drop like flies under the massive bombardment!"

"Hehehehe!"

Logger cackled wildly.

He gently stroked the blueprint he had drawn.

"Hehehe, you're going to accomplish great things. I have high hopes for you. This time, I'll finally get to take the tower apart..."

- I don't know what's with him. He's scary.

"Ignore him."

- Okay.

For the first time, Nairuniel didn't argue with Ernyan.