Chapter 226 - Cute

“Look here, are you sure he said he was coming out?”

“It’s been hours already!”

“That Demon King says no when he means no. He doesn’t lie to us.”

“A-are you saying I lied? Why would I tell a lie you’d see through right away?” Logger protested indignantly.

Five hours had passed since Berge had ordered him to tell everyone to prepare.

The dwarves, initially thrilled at the prospect of seeing the sky tower soon, had grown angry at the endless wait. They could hardly direct that anger at the Demon King, so naturally, they poured it out on his lackey, Logger.

“How should I know?”

“Aren’t you plotting something else?”

“With my lord upstairs, keeping those sharp eyes of his on everything, what could I possibly be plotting...?”

“What was that about my eyes?”

“... Everyone! At last, Lord Berge Deias is here! He conceived the sky tower and gave us dwarves this priceless opportunity to build it! A round of applause!”

“Woooo!”

“Long live our lord!”

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!

The dwarves shouted and cheered.

“Logger, that mouth of yours just keeps getting smoother.”

“Ahaha... My loyalty to you never wavers, my lord! But...?”

Meeting Berge’s eyes, Logger tilted his head.

“Something about you seems different.”

Logger lacked the ability to put his finger on exactly what it was. But something was definitely different.

“What?”

“I’m not sure, but... perhaps you’re a level more refined? Like a stone golem becoming an iron golem?”

“You dare compare me to that sort of junk?”

“Eek! I’m sorry!”

Logger shrank back.

“The preparations?”

“We need your permission, my lord. Everything is ready.”

Installing the levitation stones and mana cannons required modifications starting from the outside. But the tower’s exterior was incredibly tough and difficult to break through. The work was only possible if its owner, the Demon King, voluntarily lifted some of its protections.

Just as he had when they installed the enormous mana cannon atop the tower.

“We’ll have to extend the legs first to attach them underneath.”

“Of course.”

“And move the tower.”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“Two days. Two days will be enough.”

“That’s right! We’ll finish it in two days, no matter what!”

“Even if we can’t finish it, we’ll finish it!”

The dwarves snorted fiercely with enthusiasm.

It wasn’t idle boasting. They had already finished all the preparations, and...

“Are those golems?”

“Yes, my lord! I finally made golems from dragon bone!”

And dragon bone wasn’t all there was to them. The five golems were similar in size to those unveiled in Akan.

“They perform better than Akan’s golems.”

“Well, of course. We lent a hand.”

“Dwarven golem-making technology is the best on the continent!”

“We’ll have the golems help with the modifications.”

“Golems. Golems, hmm...”

Berge pictured it for a moment. A flying tower. Shells firing, enormous lightning strikes, and all manner of magic.

And golems and demonic creatures dropping from above.

“A sky fortress.”

An exceptionally spectacular and powerful fortress, at that.

“Then let’s begin.”

That day, the Demon King’s tower, which had lain dormant in the depths of the sea, settled onto the island slated to become the pirates’ base.

For two days, its lights never went out.

* * *

“Your Majesty! Urgent news! Aterta Fortress has fallen!”

“Your Majesty! The imperial army has reached the Amandal Plain!”

The king of Iasin stifled a groan at the relentless stream of bad news.

Only a few days earlier, an envoy had arrived from the Empire.

He had demanded cooperation in the attack on the Kingdom of Akan. Otherwise, the Empire’s blades would fall upon Iasin first.

Even coming from the Empire, it was bullshit that wasn’t worth hearing.

Iasin did watch its step around the Empire, but it was not an imperial vassal. Nor were they allies. Rather, it was bound to other kingdoms, led by Akan, under the name of an alliance.

Even without that alliance, a proud, sovereign nation could never permit another country’s army to enter its territory.

Both the Jespine Empire and Iasin knew that.

The problem was that imperial legions were already deployed near the border, while Iasin was utterly unprepared.

That was why the king had tried to buy time.

He had sent envoys to the alliance, condemning the Empire’s actions and seeking aid.

But the Empire had waited only three days. Far too little time for reinforcements to be assembled and arrive. No, it wasn’t even enough time to properly deploy Iasin’s own troops along the border.

Their disbelief that the Empire would actually do this, when nearly every nation except the Empire and Ormus had formed a coalition to defeat a Demon King, had only made matters worse.

The Empire advanced, and the eastern fortresses fell in rapid succession.

“Even mortal enemies would not do this!”

The Empire swept away everything in its path. Its troops captured fortresses and plundered supplies. They burned farmland and massacred innocent civilians.

Not even a single rat remained where they passed, and the land was left desolate. Terrified of the imperial army, the people fled, while public order in the kingdom deteriorated by the day.

The king granted full authority to the great Duke Bruce, a member of the royal family, and ordered him to defend the kingdom.

“The alliance will not stand idly by. Akan, especially, will know that we are merely a road leading to them! Hold out! Please keep this nation alive until reinforcements arrive!”

“I will carry out your command with my life, Your Majesty! No one shall trample this nation!”

The moment the Empire invaded, the Kingdom of Iasin pulled all its troops back, preserving as much of its strength as possible. It mustered military personnel from across the kingdom, gathering every soldier it could.

The eighty-thousand-strong army thus assembled finally faced the imperial army at Palogat Fortress.

The imperial army numbered two hundred and fifty thousand.

* * *

“Your Highness, I must take my leave. Please forgive us for being unable to assist Hilderan to the end as members of the coalition.”

“No, Duke Olten. Who could have known that the lawless imperial army would use the coalition’s defeat as a pretext for war? Don’t worry about us. Go defend Iasin and thwart the Empire’s ambitions.”

“Yes. Though we withdraw now, the coalition will endure until the moment we sever Lies’ head.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Akan’s forces, including Duke Olten, departed alongside those of Iasin, who had heard of the crisis in their homeland, and five kingdoms neighboring Iasin.

Though each country had sent only a portion of its troops to the coalition, they were elite soldiers. Their strength was not to be underestimated.

For Hilderan, it was an unfortunate loss.

It meant that a considerable portion of the forces fighting the incessant waves of demonic creatures was gone.

But rather than dwell on what she could not change, Ernyan did her best with what she had.

Fortunately, the mana cannons left behind by the coalition, the excellent heroes, her own presence as a spirit king’s contractor, and the Demon King of Lies’ refusal to act personally were all helping Hilderan put up a valiant fight.

Battles broke out almost every day. Two cities in northern Hilderan had been destroyed, and fighting was now taking place simultaneously in five others.

The loss of life itself was not particularly great. Thanks to the Demon King’s prediction, they had known in advance, and most of the people had evacuated or were in the process of doing so.

Even the destroyed fortresses had been strategically abandoned after inflicting damage on the demonic creatures until the last possible moment.

But the very fact that cities had been destroyed by demonic creatures and the north had been lost was a tremendous shock to Hilderan’s people.

“It gives me chills to think that so many demonic creatures were hidden in the lake.”

Tens of thousands? No, more than that. Perhaps hundreds of thousands, even millions.

Millions. It was a horrifying number, almost beyond imagining.

Excluding the troops each nation needed to maintain order and defend its own territory, the forces scraped together in Hilderan numbered one hundred and ten thousand.

“What on earth is he plotting?”

The enemy was innumerable. Demonic creatures and monsters battered the fortresses every day. They killed soldiers.

Yet Hilderan was holding out.

Because of the heroes?

Because they had prepared?

Because of the coalition?

Because of the mana cannons?

No. In Ernyan and Hillen’s eyes, there was only one reason Hilderan could still hold out.

“Why isn’t the Demon King of Lies making a move?”

“Could there be a clue in that conversation between our lord and Lies?”

It was because the Demon King of Lies wasn’t acting personally. Because the demons serving him hadn’t appeared.

The Demon King of Lies was strong.

Strong enough to fend off the combined attacks of six heroes and Lavinia Akan alone, with strength to spare.

Hillen had instinctively known they would lose if the battle continued as it had.

He believed that would remain true even with Ernyan, a spirit king’s contractor, among them.

So why wasn’t Jason stepping in?

If he did, the war would be over. Like a dragon reigning over a kingdom, the Demon King of Lies could soar unchallenged above Hilderan and abduct Ernyan at his leisure.

That would give him a rather useful card to play against Berge.

Yet Jason hadn’t done so. Why?

“A clue in their conversation...”

“If nothing comes to mind, wouldn’t it be best to ask Lord Berge?”

“... You’re right, aren’t you?”

The answer came quickly.

『“It’s a grace period.”』

“A grace period?”

『“You heard us. He wants something from me, and I agreed to give it to him.”』

“You did.”

『“But he can’t trust me, and I can’t trust him. That’s why he’s attacking the two kingdoms where you and Lavinia are.”』

“I understand that much.”

『“Yes. Attacking Hilderan and Akan is his way of hurrying me along. He’s telling me to come as quickly as possible if I don’t want anything to happen to you.”』

“But why isn’t he giving it his all?”

『“Because he mustn’t cross the line.”』

“The line?”

『“Jason has now lost all connection to the Demon Realm. He can no longer locate my tower.”』

『“But if he abducted or killed you and Lavinia, what would I do?”』

“You’d rescue us, or avenge us.”

『“Of course I would, but that’s the me you know. What about me as a demonic dragon of the Demon Realm? As a Demon King?”』

『“What would an ordinary Demon King do in that situation?”』

He had made an enemy of a Demon King too powerful to face. That Demon King was destroying everything he had built while searching for him, but he had a way to move and conceal his tower.

“... He thinks you wouldn’t sacrifice your life for mere humans?”

『“Yes. One possible exception is that you’re a special human, a contractor of the water spirit king. But that also means that if you were determined to escape, even he would have difficulty catching you.”』

“But I stayed for that conversation, too.”

『“Even taking that into account, it changes nothing. Ultimately, you’re human, and I’m a demonic dragon and a Demon King.”』

“So this is his way of gently coaxing you?”

『“Exactly. He’s saying he’ll hold back and wait, so I should come rather than run away.”』

At last, Ernyan nodded, fully understanding the situation.

“The problem is, this ‘holding back’ doesn’t look much like holding back.”

Perhaps it did from Jason’s perspective, but not from Hilderan’s, which had to weather his attacks.

『“Don’t worry. I’ll be there soon, once I take care of one thing.”』

“One thing?”

『“An important task I must complete before facing him.”』

『“He thinks Daniel is all I’m going to devour. This will be quite the dagger in his side.”』

“I don’t know what it is, but I understand what you mean. I hope it goes well.”

『“Yes. It won’t be long before I get there.”』

“Is the sky tower finished?”

『“Soon.”』

“I absolutely want a ride!”

『“Of course.”』

“You’ll be able to crush the Demon King of Lies, too, won’t you?”

『“Hmm, well...”』

On the other side of the communication orb, Berge rubbed his chin.

『“Naturally. I’ll tear out that glib tongue of his and teach him the greatness of a demonic dragon.”』

“I’ll be waiting.”

Just then—

BOOM!

BOOM!

Explosions rang out.

Hurried footsteps stopped outside the office door.

“Your Highness! The demonic creatures have resumed their assault!”

“I’ll be right out!”

“Yes!”

“Hillen?”

“I’ll go ahead.”

Hillen gathered his weapons and rushed outside.

Ernyan waved toward the communication orb.

“I’ll be waiting. Don’t be too late.”

『“All right.”』

“I miss you.”

『“... We saw each other only a little while ago.”』

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

『“...”』

After a brief silence, the connection cut out.

“... Cute.”

—That’s not quite the right word, dear. That is disturbing rather than cute. To think I’d see a Demon King—that arrogant demonic dragon—behave like that.

—Lady Naias, I suppose you don’t understand because you’ve never been in love, but that’s what they call love being blind. It’s absolutely neces... Aagh!

—No one may say such things to me!

—M-my soul! You hit my soul!

—Spirits are all souls to begin with, dear.

Ernyan sighed as she watched the two spirits bicker.

“You said you wouldn’t bring Nairuniel.”

—I’m sorry, but I’ve discovered a new pleasure. Watching together while chatting is more entertaining than watching alone.

—Hear, hear! We spirits have the right to pursue greater enjoyment, too!

“I’m not a spectacle.”

—Then you need only stop putting on such a display, dear.

—Exactly. We can’t very well cover our eyes, can we?

“... Forget it.”

Ernyan headed onto the battlefield.