Chapter 74 - Friend

CRASH!

The axe slammed into the floor. Broken fragments flew in every direction. Without stopping, the battle-axe changed course.

Vivian gritted her teeth. It was too close to dodge. Wrapping herself in demonic energy, she reached out and caught the axe. Its edge bit into her skin with a chilling sharpness, but she pushed forward anyway.

SCREECH!

Louise was forced backward.

'This is a princess...?'

Vivian was appalled by her unexpected strength and the bulging muscles standing out all over her body.

'Impossible.'

The princesses she knew were easy to toy with. Some were proper ladies; others had rather nasty tempers. Some had learned magic, and others swung swords, declaring that they would become knights.

But all of them remained within the bounds of what a princess should be. They were royalty. They were princesses. Being seen as a princess mattered more than being a knight or a mage.

But Louise Berft was different. Her face was beautiful, but beneath it was a mass of muscle that could put Ugar to shame. Inside her lurked a ferocious beast. Vivian could not help questioning it.

"Something like you is a princess?"

"What else would I be, a prince?"

Vivian lowered her head and tightened her grip on the blade. That was when she felt a chill behind her.

'Damn.'

The dwarf named Louise Berft had shocked her so badly that she had forgotten what truly mattered: the hero guarding her, whom Vivian had no confidence she could defeat in her current state.

CRACKLE!

Lightning slammed into her back. Still pushing Louise, she toppled forward. She and the princess rolled dozens of times. By then, a deafening alarm was shaking the entire royal palace.

'I have to escape.'

The princess no longer mattered. She gave up quickly and acted even faster. The moment the hero charged, she flung herself away. It was disgraceful, but a Demon King's dignity meant nothing when her life was at stake.

She sprinted toward the window. At that moment, a powerful force yanked her back. She let out a sharp cry at the dizzying pain.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Louise Berft had lost her axe, but her hand now held something else. Something long and black. A succubus's tail. Vivian Blunt's tail.

"... You bitch."

"You can come in whenever you please, but you don't get to leave that way. If you want out, you should at least leave your head behind, shouldn't you? It's only polite, you fucking bitch."

THUD!

A kick packed with demonic energy made the princess stagger. But she did not release the tail.

"Let go."

"Why should I do you any favors?"

"You're not letting go?"

Their struggle was brief, but the distance to the hero was shorter still. Lightning blazed. Vivian caught her breath.

SLICE!

A chilling gust swept past right in front of her nose.

Something had been severed. A black lump dropped to the floor.

Her tail.

It had been cut off.

"Ah."

Dizzying pain swept over her. Tears welled in her eyes. Her symbol of beauty, which she had tended so carefully and cherished so dearly!

The princess and the hero gave the Demon King no time to dwell on it. The tail was only the beginning. The sword turned at a right angle and came flying toward her neck.

'I've memorized both your faces, you bitch and you bastard. I remember them!'

She released all her demonic energy at once, the meager power she could barely muster under dimensional interference. An immense repulsive force shoved everything away. The princess screamed as she was flung backward. The hero faltered for a moment.

His brilliant aura finally cut through the demonic energy and advanced, but Vivian was already gone. Only a shattered window and empty space remained.

"A tear...?"

As a single drop of moisture landed on his face, the hero, Hillen Cargill, tilted his head.

* * *

A demon had infiltrated the palace. When the king first heard the report, he rushed out of his bedroom in his nightclothes.

"My princess!"

But Louise's detached palace was quite far from the king's bedchamber, and another report arrived along the way. The king tilted his head.

"So a demon tried to abduct Louise, and Hillen Cargill stopped it?"

"They say it was a Demon King, not a demon."

"He repelled a Demon King?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"How?"

The question escaped him unbidden.

Nearly a thousand years had passed since the Demon Kings first descended. Every living creature in Arain lived alongside Demon Kings, demons, and demonic creatures.

Demons could no longer be separated from their lives, their politics, diplomacy, or economy. Humans and other races, such as elves and dwarves, had changed considerably since then, but one fact had remained unchanged throughout those long years.

A Demon King's abduction could not be stopped. No matter what defenses were prepared, no one could prevent a Demon King from kidnapping someone.

The reason was simple. Between the abductor and the abducted, the former always held the advantage. No one knew when or where an abduction would take place. Nor could every royal in existence be given impenetrable protection.

Moreover, among all the powerful individuals and heroes, only the Great Stars could rival a Demon King's unrivaled skill at stealth and escape. Even their abilities were imperfect. If anyone could truly match them, it was Dafner Philiain alone. But even Dafner Philiain could not keep every royal at his side and protect them.

Thus, rather than trying to prevent the abductions themselves, humans had settled on punishing Demon Kings afterward. This had continued for centuries, until an unspoken set of rules emerged.

Demon Kings would keep their royal captives safe, return them at an appropriate time, and never target heirs to the throne. The nations would compromise within reason, so long as the Demon Kings did not cross the line.

The rules existed so Demon Kings could avoid death, and humans could minimize the tiresome conflicts with Demon Kings who kept descending no matter how many they killed.

And yet he had prevented the abduction itself? The question loomed large, but it was not what mattered right now.

"Then is Louise all right? Surely she hasn't been hurt?"

When the king arrived, the soldiers securing the area cleared a path. He entered the princess's room and surveyed the damage. The broken ceiling and walls, and the remnants of demonic energy lingering there, left no room for doubt. A demon really had been here. His gaze turned to his daughter.

"Louise! Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine."

She was not fine. Her body was covered in small wounds.

"Let's have the court mage treat you at once. That wretched demon! How could it strike this child anywhere...?"

"We were able to stop it thanks to Sir Hillen."

"Hillen Cargill?"

Only then did he realize that the hero was in the room along with the princess.

"He warned me of the demon's intrusion. That gave us time to prepare and drive it off. Unfortunately, we couldn't kill it..."

Louise held out the succubus's tail, which was still twitching vigorously.

"A succubus's tail?"

"Yes."

"The Demon King of Carnal Desire?"

Demon Kings tended to employ servants of their own race. It was not an absolute rule, but that was the most common initial assumption.

"The Demon King of Carnal Desire. That lunatic wasn't satisfied with provoking Dormund and now wants to take us on too."

Murderous intent filled the king's eyes. And to dare target Louise, of all people! Unbearable rage rose within him. But he soon suppressed it and approached Hillen Cargill. He did not like the man, but Louise had escaped abduction thanks to him, and gratitude was gratitude.

"On behalf of Berft, I offer you my thanks."

"Not at all. I merely did what I should."

"No one has ever saved a princess before she was abducted. You have rendered an immense service. However..."

There was one question.

"How did you know?"

"It was a coincidence."

"A coincidence?"

"Yes. I couldn't sleep, so I was training in the detached palace's practice hall when I sensed demonic energy."

That was possible. A Demon King's demonic energy was difficult to detect, but Hillen Cargill was a hero who had killed two Demon Kings. His senses would be more sensitive to demonic energy than anyone else's.

It felt as though everything had fallen neatly into place according to some plan, but there was no way a hero would collude with a Demon King to stage something like this.

'Or perhaps he was prowling around the detached palace with designs on Louise and happened upon it.'

The king shook his head. It was mere suspicion. He could not scold a hero who had saved the princess from near abduction over that.

"You are a benefactor to the kingdom, to my daughter, and to me. Whatever you expect, I shall exceed it. You may look forward to it."

"Thank you."

"Shouldn't you at least refuse once out of politeness?"

"I was told it is polite to accept what one is given."

"Yes, that is polite."

The king laughed heartily.

Rumors that the Demon King of Carnal Desire had failed to abduct Berft's Second Princess began spreading across the continent with remarkable speed.

* * *

『We succeeded.』

It was only a brief statement, but enough to delight Berge. Not only had they stopped Vivian, they had cut off her tail. Imagining Vivian fleeing with her tail literally lost made him laugh.

"Keep the tail."

For succubi, a tail was an expression of beauty and a second vessel for demonic energy. Compared with the heart, it was largely supplementary, but the demonic energy contained within it was not insignificant.

『Yes.』

"Well done."

『I merely did what I should.』

"Indeed. Thanks to this, you'll gain tremendous fame yet again."

『Isn't it all thanks to you, my lord?』

"How was Vivian?"

『Weak. Honestly, I think I could have killed her if I'd tried.』

That was because she had descended only recently and was still heavily affected by dimensional interference. But Vivian was not weak. She was a Demon King.

Hillen had simply grown stronger. Stronger than when he had climbed Mount Erjest. Stronger than when he had killed Drakson. Even at this moment, the power of two Demon Kings was taking him another step forward.

"It's more beneficial to keep Vivian alive and let her do more in the future."

She had caused trouble in Dormund as soon as she arrived, and now she had provoked Berft. She was a born lightning rod. Whatever Berge did, the attention directed at her would not shift elsewhere for the time being. He hoped it would stay that way indefinitely.

Of course, that was not the only reason.

'Arain may have killed countless Demon Kings, but they almost never died immediately after arriving.'

Moreover, Vivian was an investigator Grand Duke Alkain had sent to uncover the truth behind Drakson's death. If she died, Alkain would make another move. Better to keep the easily understood Vivian alive than to guard against whatever unpredictable means he might employ.

『Then I shall contact you again later.』

"When you return to Guild headquarters, send Granada separately to the Golden Moon Trading Company."

『Because of the elves?』

"Yes."

『Granada is publicly known as my right-hand man. If I suddenly send him elsewhere, others may find it strange.』

"That's for you to handle."

『How very like you, my lord. Yes, understood.』

The connection ended. Berge pushed the crystal ball aside and stretched.

[1412492pt]

As he checked his demonic energy points and imagined the day he would place a balrog on the second floor, another communication orb signaled.

『My lord.』

It was Krutu.

『The unfamiliar monsters you spoke of have appeared.』

『We tried to avoid them, but three tribespeople were killed.』

* * *

Krutu.

Once chieftain of the Red Frost tribe, he was now the high chieftain who had united seven tribes. His warriors alone numbered in the hundreds, and including all his people, the total exceeded a thousand.

That tremendous growth, incomparable to anything before, was all thanks to the great Demon King. It was something he could never have dreamed of in the past. Thus, his loyalty was exceptional.

"If you see an unusual monster, do not confront it. Run away immediately, then report to me."

"Understood."

"Follow chieftain's words."

He had faithfully obeyed the Demon King's orders. Since orcs were so driven by instinct, he had repeatedly alternated between shouting at them and coaxing them until the orders were drilled into their heads.

"Ogre. No."

"Strange."

"Chieftain, monster."

Thanks to that, even when the orcs saw an ogre with one abnormally large arm, they did not pick a fight.

'What is that?'

Black in appearance, with enormous claws. The ogre's arm looked almost like a devil's. An ominous feeling crossed Krutu's mind.

"We retreat quietly."

"We follow."

Fortunately, it had not noticed them. After putting some distance between them, Krutu took out his communication orb and infused it with demonic energy.

At that moment, every hair on Krutu's body stood on end. He slowly turned his head. It was a dog. A strange beast closer to a demonic creature than a dog.

The creatures sniffed as they watched Krutu. When had they gotten there?

'These aren't monsters native to the mountains either.'

They were probably connected to that bizarre monster. He swung his blade instinctively. The dogs were quick, but Krutu and the orcs were quicker.

YELP!

The dogs became corpses. But they had spent too long. He felt an intense gaze.

'We've been spotted.'

The instant he realized his mistake, the monster's body hurtled through the air.

Faced with its thick murderous intent, the orcs bared their fighting spirit.

"Fight!"

"Kill!"

"No!"

Krutu's shout faded into a futile scream. A beheaded orc tumbled across the cold snow. Enraged by his kin's death, another orc swung his blade.

SLICE!

The devil-like arm was severed. At the same time, the other fist burst the orc's head.

Two dead in an instant. The enraged orcs charged, and so did Krutu. Drawing steadily on demonic energy, they cut through its flesh. In the process, one more orc lost his life.

The report could only come after everything was over.

"... I am sorry, my lord. I failed to follow your orders."

『It doesn't matter. I meant to avoid them if you could, not to let them go after they'd taken lives.』

『Recover your kin's bodies and bring the chimera's corpse as well.』

"Yes."

Fortunately, the Demon King was not angry. Krutu sighed in relief at that fact.

"... A demon?"

"...!"

But the voice that reached his ears cut his relief short. He slowly turned his head. A woman was staring blankly at him. He had no idea how long she had been there.

"... A human?"

"You, Demon King's subordinate?"

Her bright eyes sparkled in a way utterly unsuited to the situation. If Krutu was not mistaken, that was curiosity. A mere human was showing curiosity with him standing before her.

He should have snorted at the insolent bitch and killed her. She looked so frail that she would be unable to block his sword if he swung it now. But Krutu could not readily move. He felt uneasy, as if something were stuck in his throat.

"Underneath."

He asked,

"What are you hiding?"

"... Orc. Speaks well?"

There was no malice in her halting words.

"This."

"My friend."

RUMBLE!

The earth shook. A peak rose. An enormous shadow engulfed Krutu.