Chapter 212 - Equal Treatment

The Kingdom of Ormus followed the Empire in announcing its withdrawal, but that did not overturn the prevailing determination to kill the Demon King of Lies.

That was only natural. They suspected the Empire was resorting to a cheap trick to preserve its strength, but never imagined it would stab the coalition in the back. It would have to be insane to do that.

Akan, Iasin, Dormund, Korzen, Horton, Hilderan, Hessen, the Traparta Union, Machiel, and others—a full fifteen kingdoms and unions, large and small, were participating.

However powerful the Empire might be, it could hardly fight most of the other nations. The difference in scale was overwhelming, and even victory would plainly leave it with nothing but wounds.

Besides, its excuse was fairly convincing.

"We will focus on the Demon King of Hellfire rather than the Demon King of Lies. Since Hellfire has abducted His Highness the Empire's First Prince, we will not attack another Demon King before killing him."

It was the Empire that had suffered the most at Hellfire's hands, and the Empire that had lost its most important imperial family member.

They had a justification, if only in name.

"We can still do this without the Empire."

"Exactly. If the Empire is absent, we simply attack Lies without it. Until now, we've fallen victim to them because we walked into traps or couldn't coordinate well enough to bring our armies to bear. This time is different."

"We must finish Lies off and regain both the people's lost confidence and our advantage. Their anxiety has gone too far."

The humiliation of repeated failures. The forgotten terror of Demon Kings. The anger of the people.

All of it drove them forward.

They had to set things right now. If they did not, they would regret it far more later.

It was a current, a wave unleashed by the Demon King of Hellfire. One that could never be stopped.

The unexpected withdrawal of the Empire and Ormus did not provide a breakwater strong enough to hold it back.

"Slay the Demon King of Lies!"

"Form a coalition army!"

Diplomats from every participating nation took up permanent residence in the Principality of Carmenia in the Traparta Union, where the coalition's first conference had been held, to negotiate the expedition. Discussions flew back and forth over who would lead the coalition, its composition and size, and how to attack the tower.

Amid all this, the Kingdom of Akan received an unexpected visitor.

"My sister is back?"

Cain, Akan's Fifth Prince, had only just returned from the Traparta Union. At the news that his missing elder sister had returned, he immediately ran to her.

He left the royal castle and raced down the main road. Among the gathered crowd, he spotted mages from the mage tower. Beyond them stood an enormous titan—no, a chimera a little too unusual to call a titan.

His sister sat on its shoulder, gazing expressionlessly down at the crowd.

"Sister!"

Cain lightly kicked off the ground. Like a bird, he sailed over the crowd and reached her side.

"Cain?"

"Sister, you're alive!"

"Your Highness?"

"Your Highness!"

TAP

He landed on Cher's shoulder, right beside Lavinia. He was one of the few people permitted to climb onto Cher.

"Where in the world have you been all this time?"

"Er. Research."

"You were doing research in Erjest? Well, that's all you're interested in, so I suppose it's only natural, but..."

Cain sighed.

"Never mind. I'm just glad you're alive."

Yes, that was enough. He was truly thankful his sister had returned safely rather than dying.

"But why are you with Master Pale?"

Cain turned his head. His joy at seeing Lavinia had kept him from noticing at first, but someone else occupied Cher's other shoulder.

Pale. The man who had personally contracted with him to provide mana, then vanished. The man Lavinia Akan had left for Erjest to meet.

"It's been a while."

"Indeed it has."

"You disappeared after signing the contract, so I thought you no longer wished to have dealings with Akan."

"The agreement was to do business when I wished to in the first place. There was no reason to tie myself down."

"Of course, but I never expected you to arrive with my sister."

"I have a laboratory in Erjest. We happened to meet while I was gathering materials."

"Then you've been with my sister there all this time?"

"We've given each other quite a bit of help."

"Help. Pale. Me."

"You helped Master Pale, and he helped you?"

"Yes."

There were reasons to be suspicious. Still, in a place as brutally harsh as Erjest, Lavinia could not have lasted for months without someone's assistance, even with Cher and her chimeras.

'Besides.'

"I heard Lady Roselle went to see you."

"She did."

There was another living witness: Roselle Charnt. She had learned Pale's location from Hillen Cargill and headed straight into Erjest.

When she returned, she was far stronger. She had broken through the wall that had blocked her progress.

'But Lady Roselle...'

She had never mentioned meeting Lavinia.

Cain knew Roselle well. If she had met his sister at Pale's laboratory, she would not have kept silent about it.

"Did you meet Lady Roselle there too, Sister?"

"Yes. Roselle. Fun."

"You had fun?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't Lady Roselle tell me about you?"

"Secret."

"Pardon?"

"Secret."

"You asked her to keep it secret?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"You."

"Because I'd worry? Because I'd come looking for you?"

"Yes."

Watching Cain nod as he grew increasingly convinced, Berge felt glad he had coached Lavinia just in case.

It had cost twelve chocolates, but they had been well spent.

"Princess, are you feeling well?"

"Cher has changed so much! How did you modify him?"

Then the mages descended on them. Even with the prince standing right before them, they were preoccupied with examining the princess and Cher.

"Huh? This mana..."

"It's Pale! Master Pale!"

"Pure mana! Fire mana!"

The flames of their madness spread to Pale as well.

"Show some courtesy, all of you! He is a guest of the royal family!"

"But Your Highness!"

"It isn't right for the royal family to monopolize him!"

"Master Pale is not an object! Knights! Hold the mages back!"

Their frenzy continued until the knights and soldiers forcibly pulled them away.

* * *

"Uh, um..."

Having become an official guest of the royal family, Berge—no, Pale—soon received an invitation from the mage tower and paid it a visit.

Roselle Charnt had sent the invitation, but certainly not of her own volition.

"So why did you come here in person?"

"Rather informal for a servant addressing her liege."

"You said I could, didn't you?"

"Well, yes. It is easier for both of us."

In Roselle's private office, Pale sank back into a soft sofa.

"So, why are you here? Is it okay to let the princess loose like that?"

"Lavinia hasn't officially been abducted."

"That's true, but Cher's been strengthened with dragon materials. There's no way the mages won't recognize them."

"She can insist they're from a drake."

"You don't seriously think that'll work, do you?"

"They can make a fuss all day, but if Lavinia denies it, what can they do?"

Mad as the mages were, Lavinia Akan's madness surpassed all of theirs combined.

Madness was devoured by greater madness. Add her royal standing to that, and none of the mages could openly reproach Lavinia or take anything from her. Not unless she permitted it.

"True, but... So why did you come?"

"To join the hero's journey."

"Ha...! Again? You Demon Kings really don't get along, do you?"

"And to give you a warning while I'm at it."

"A warning?"

"Do you know why the Empire pulled out this time?"

"Their excuse is that they're going after you instead of Lies, but isn't it just to preserve their strength? They're bitter because they suffered the biggest losses."

"They're taking it a step further. They intend to stab the coalition in the back—after you've suffered heavy losses fighting Lies."

"Not unless the emperor's gone mad!"

The Empire was powerful, certainly. But not powerful enough to take on every other nation.

Even if some combination of miracles and coincidences made that possible, it would end in mutual destruction, not victory.

"What if he has?"

"The emperor's gone mad?"

"The Empire and Lies have deep ties."

"You're saying Lies is goading the Empire into it? To strike when we've failed to kill him and suffered heavy losses?"

"Probably."

"Are you kidding? Unless that Demon King is making plans for after his own death, that requires one thing first."

The Demon King of Lies would have to repel the expedition. In other words, the coalition would have to fail.

"He's confident he can stop us? One measly Demon King?"

"I stopped you."

"That was different! The coalition couldn't fight properly as one! You ambushed us while we were waiting for the main force!"

"Why do you think Jason can't do what I did?"

"That hurts my pride. It won't happen twice. I wasn't going all out then, either."

"Yes, that's true."

But.

"Haven't the heroes actually grown weaker? Without Balaf Dislord, I mean."

"You're the one who killed him. Do you think you have any right to say that?"

"That's why I'm here. To help you."

"Help us?"

"Lavinia Akan is strong enough to overwhelm Ralph Schmitz. She used dragon materials on herself as well as strengthening Cher. She'll be a great help."

"So that's why you let the princess go?"

"And Ernyan will participate personally on Hilderan's behalf."

"Your Dark Spirit Summoner? That princess would be quite a help."

She would be far more than a help. She was the contractor of a spirit king, no less. Roselle disliked the fact that it was a water spirit king, but there was no denying her overwhelming power.

Roselle was a hero who had reached new heights by inscribing eight engravings, yet even she could not guarantee victory against a spirit king.

"And Hillen Cargill will join as well. Jason deliberately excluded him last time after realizing he had ties to me, but he won't be able to do that now."

"Come to think of it, that vanished without a trace, didn't it? The fake hero's journey."

"Their defeat at my hands was too much of a shock. And he painted himself as a hero."

The plan for a fake hero's journey had been completely buried beneath the real expedition's failure.

Fortunately, thanks to Hillen's groundwork, he had become not an outcast among the heroes, but a hero entrusted with a different role to deceive the Demon King.

Even so, the expedition had failed. Most people were left wondering wistfully how things might have turned out if Hillen Cargill, second in strength only to Balaf Dislord, had joined them.

"Speaking of which, I hear the Heroes' Guild is in an uproar because the Guildmaster's disappeared again."

"I imagine so."

The Guildmaster had been another of Balaf Dislord's identities, after all.

"With the Guildmaster gone altogether, it'll be easier for Hillen Cargill to take the position."

"You're making him Guildmaster? That idiot?"

"There's no hero stronger than him now."

"There's me!"

"I'm not so sure."

Having inscribed eight engravings and reached a new level, Roselle Charnt was undoubtedly far stronger than the other Stars. But Hillen, who had killed two Demon Kings and continued to grow, was no pushover either.

"We spoon-fed him that second Demon King!"

"So you want to be Guildmaster?"

"No, I wouldn't take that headache even if you offered it. Hillen seems so desperate for it that I'll make a special exception and let him have it."

"You want something."

"A little of your horn..."

"You're insane."

"I've never worked with a demonic dragon's horn in my life. And you're a demonic dragon of flame, aren't you?"

"Kneel."

"What? What the fuck are you suddenly—ngh...!"

Pain constricted Roselle's soul, forcing her to her knees.

"You seem to have forgotten. You're my servant. I'm your master."

"... And as my master, you can bestow a gift on your servant, can't you? I even helped persuade that bastard Ralph."

"Still talking back to the bitter end."

"Nothing can stop a mage's thirst for knowledge."

"Greed, you mean."

"Same thing!"

"Well, I could spare a little."

His horns contained immense amounts of mana, but losing them would not make him drastically weaker.

"I can feel my loyalty bubbling up!"

"If you kill Jason, that is."

"Ha, just you wait. I'll show you how powerful an archmage with eight engravings can be."

"That goes without saying. But isn't there something else you should be doing right now?"

"Oh, fine. I'll tell the king and the nobles that the Empire's acting suspiciously and they should be on their guard."

"And keep a close eye on Lavinia."

"Why the princess?"

"Lavinia isn't the problem. Jason is. He may know she's my servant."

"You mean Lies had a spy there? But all the heroes became your servants, didn't they?"

"There were none among the heroes. But there's always a chance."

"So my master's a worrier. No wonder you hid your tower so thoroughly and resorted to every trick imaginable. If what you're worried about happens, I'll take responsibility for protecting the princess. Don't worry."

"Good."

Only then did Berge feel some relief.

"You seem very fond of the princess."

"She's my servant."

"You don't treat me that way."

"Wouldn't it be strange to treat her like you?"

"What's so different? We're both your servants, aren't we?"

"Then would you like some too?"

"Some what? Dragon heart or blood?"

Roselle brightened. But what Berge held in his hand was nothing so extraordinary.

"..."

"..."

"... What's that?"

"Chocolate."

"You think I don't know that? Put it away."

"Don't you like chocolate?"

"Is that the issue here?"

"Then what is?"

Berge popped the chocolate into his mouth and chewed.

"It's high quality. Quite delicious."

"Yes, yes. Eat all you like, Master. Stuff yourself until your belly bursts, and if your heart spills out, I'll put it to good use."

"You dream big."

"The bigger the dream, the better!"

Roselle sprang to her feet.

"Where are you going?"

"To carry out your orders and warn the king and the Tower Master! Why?"

Roselle stormed off, fuming.

"Damn it, what kind of Demon King carries chocolate around?"

Even chewing on demonic beast hearts would hardly be enough for him.

"Tower Master!"

Without realizing it, Roselle opened the door to the Tower Master's office with excessive force.