The Archdemon's Machinations - 3
Nahen, still in the Demon Realm, received word from Eri and Dane that their mission had been completed. A satisfied smile spread across his face as he spoke.
“Well, Seere? Just as I told you—they performed beautifully, didn’t they?”
“…Yes. It appears so.”
Seere pouted at the way Nahen seemed to be boasting. He had anticipated exactly this reaction, yet he had spoken anyway, driven by the urge to tease his adorable disciple just a little.
When she responded with the expected cuteness, Nahen let out a warm, fatherly chuckle. This was why he raised disciples. The sense of fulfillment was profound.
Citing Dane and Eri as examples, he offered her gentle advice. “Humans are not a race that can be dismissed lightly.”
“I know. The human I saw last time was far stronger than I expected.”
“I wondered if perhaps you had defeated that Hero too easily. It made me worry.”
“That was only possible because it was me.”
At her slightly arrogant tone, Nahen let out a soft laugh. Yet Seere had not been boasting.
“How could I possibly lose after learning from you, Teacher?”
“…!”
The completely unexpected words left Nahen genuinely stunned. A wave of emotion surged through him so strongly he nearly shed tears of joy.
What a good child.
Seeing Nahen so obviously delighted, Seere smiled to herself. He believed her reaction had been pure, but that was not entirely true.
I need to keep building his affection like this…
Every word had been carefully calculated. Of course, they were not all lies—each one carried genuine sincerity. Yet she had deliberately spoken with a touch of arrogance for dramatic effect, only to redirect all the credit back to Nahen.
If I continue building his favor this way, once my body matures further, Teacher will finally…
Lost in rosy visions of the future, Seere unconsciously broke into a bright, dreamy smile. Seeing that smile, Nahen’s thoughts drifted in an entirely different direction.
While the two of them remained unaware of each other’s hearts, their thoughts crossing like ships in the night, Seere recovered first and asked, “Teacher. What exactly did you spread throughout the human realm?”
“Ah, did I not mention it?”
“No.”
Rather than answering directly, Nahen pulled out a pouch and showed it to her. When Seere saw the countless mana artifacts inside, her eyes narrowed.
“Teacher, these…”
“Mana artifacts, my dear.”
“That is not what I meant… Why is your mana inside them?”
Seere could sense it clearly. No one was more attuned to Nahen’s mana than she was, so she immediately noticed his distinct power woven among the orbs—unblended and unmistakable.
“Your observation is impressive, Seere.”
“I have been by your side constantly, so of course I can tell. What are you trying to accomplish by spreading these in the human realm?”
“While Dane and Eri circulated them throughout the empire, I paid a visit to the Holy Kingdom.”
“…The Holy Kingdom?”
Seere fell into deep thought, attempting to discern his intentions. Moments later, her eyes widened in realization.
“Are you deliberately trying to incite war in the human realm?”
“Whether it escalates to full war remains to be seen… but chaos is certain.”
Nahen decided this was the right moment to share his true thoughts. He revealed that the purpose of this operation was to delay the Heavenly Demon War.
“The Heavenly Demon War… do you believe it will occur, Teacher?”
“Yes.”
“Well, after seeing them hand the humans something like that, the odds do seem high.”
“You are correct. The Heavenly God clearly intends to trigger it.”
And the reason, most likely, was none other than Nahen’s absence. According to what he had learned from the progenitor of the vampires, Ersha Scarlet, Nahen himself was Hell’s greatest asset.
With him gone from Hell, Heaven must have viewed it as an opportunity. In the original game, the Heavenly Demon War would only begin after one or two more Heroes appeared, yet…
Their movements are far too hasty for that.
Simply dispatching an angel directly into the Demon Realm proved as much. Ever since Nahen began intervening, the story had clearly diverged from the original plot.
“If the Heavenly Demon War breaks out now, it will be a conflict we cannot withstand with our current strength. It must not happen—at least not until our rank rises to mid-tier or higher at the next Demon Realm Assembly.”
“So that is why you are destabilizing the human realm.”
“Precisely. Because the Heavenly God still cares about them.”
When the Pope had previously claimed the Heavenly God no longer communicated, Nahen had wondered if divine interest in the human realm had waned. But the appearance of a Hero proved otherwise.
“Once the human realm falls into chaos, the Heavenly God will find it far more burdensome to initiate the Heavenly Demon War.”
“Which is why you are sowing conflict between the two strongest human factions.”
“You understand quickly.”
Seere tilted her head. “Still, Teacher… will simply distributing mana artifacts from the Demon Realm truly create such severe discord?”
“That is why I infused them with my own mana.”
“…What does that have to do with anything?”
Seere tilted her head again. This was something she could not possibly know. After all, she had not yet realized that Nahen was an Archdemon.
Archdemons existed on a plane far beyond humans. Merely facing their power was enough to instill overwhelming terror and shatter the mind, as though confronting something utterly incomprehensible. The effect was especially potent for those sensitive to mana.
That was why Nahen had carefully placed traces of his pure mana inside each artifact. Unlike when he had engraved formulas on the human slaves, he had used no external power—only his own, undiluted.
The moment a mana-sensitive mage used one of these artifacts…
“The human who uses an artifact containing my mana will lose their reason and descend into madness. They may even transform into something horrific.”
“Can mana truly do that? What kind of magic is it?”
Seere asked with a puzzled tilt of her head, but Nahen only chuckled and gently stroked her hair. At his evasive response, she felt a small pang of disappointment.
A secret again…
Watching Nahen guard his mysteries, Seere wondered if she had not yet earned enough of his trust. She earnestly hoped the day would come when he would finally share them with her.
The artifacts distributed by Eri and Dane spread across the entire Bismarck Empire in the blink of an eye. To mages, such items were revolutionary. Small enough to carry easily yet containing mana equal to or greater than other artifacts, they sold out almost instantly despite the considerable quantity Dane and Eri had released.
“Eri, you should return to the Demon Realm. Continuing to operate under this identity is too dangerous now.”
“You’re not going back, Dane?”
“I need to stay and observe how the situation develops.”
Eri gazed at him for a moment before speaking. “I want to stay with you.”
“Your face is known. It’s too risky.”
“I can use recognition-inhibiting magic.”
Dane looked puzzled. He could not understand why she was being so stubborn. Logically, it made no sense.
“Dane, let’s stay together.”
Yet something in his heart stirred. The way the lovely Eri pleaded so earnestly softened his resolve without him realizing it. Her next words drove the point home completely.
“…Why are you acting like this?”
“It’s dangerous… I don’t want to lose any more friends without ever seeing them again.”
“…….”
Dane let out a small sigh. There was no helping it. Nahen had never specifically ordered Eri to return first, so her decision was acceptable. He had only suggested it because her presence might restrict his movements, but…
“…Fine. Let’s stay together.”
“Okay.”
He understood her feelings all too well. Dane resolved to bring her along, accepting that it might become slightly inconvenient.
“But Eri.”
“Yes?”
“Since you’re slower than me, I may need to carry you at times.”
“Ah.”
Eri nodded in understanding, then blushed slightly. “B-but what if I’m heavy? I’ve gained a little weight recently…”
Dane was taken aback. Eri had always been slender—how much heavier could she possibly be? She seemed to assume that because he was a rogue, his strength must be lacking.
As a man, Dane had his pride. He furrowed his brow slightly and replied, “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“Ah, okay.”
Dane briefed Eri on their next steps now that they would be traveling together.
“First, we’ll investigate the mages who purchased artifacts from the Hernando Trading Company.”
“Why investigate the buyers?”
“Master Nahen instructed me to observe what kind of reaction occurs.”
“…Reaction?”
“He said we would understand once we saw it. The place that purchased the largest quantity from the Hernando Trading Company is…”
Dane’s gaze turned toward the central district of Germanium, the capital of the Bismarck Empire.
“The Imperial Mages Association.”
“…Dane.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s hurry.”
Eri’s expression suggested she had sensed something strange. Though Dane did not know what it was, he recognized that she had noticed something and nodded.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“It’s fine.”
Dane wrapped an arm around Eri’s waist, lifted her lightly, and vanished into the shadows. The entire process took less than five seconds. Eri’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Dane… you’re really strong.”
“You’re just light.”
In an instant, Dane reached the central district where the Mages Association building stood. As if he had memorized the layout long ago, he slipped into a damp back alley and set Eri down.
“We can enter from here.”
“The… sewer?”
“Would you prefer the front door?”
The way Eri looked at Dane shifted. No longer the simple gaze of a childhood friend, it now carried a hint of pity upon realizing this was the sort of path he walked regularly.
“It will smell terrible. Cover your nose with your robe.”
“Okay.”
Following his instructions, Eri pulled the fabric of her robe over her nose and followed him down into the sewer, entering the Association’s drainage system.
It’s so damp…
The pungent stench and filthy water made it hardly a place fit for humans. Yet knowing Dane traversed such paths constantly, Eri endured it.
“Eri, stay silent from here on.”
She nodded in reply.
They moved with extreme caution until they finally discovered an empty storage room and descended into it. Following Dane’s lead, Eri remained quiet.
Then they both felt it.
“Dane.”
“…Yeah.”
“Isn’t it… too quiet?”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
The Mages Association should have been bustling with people. Yet as they moved through the corridors, they did not catch so much as a glimpse of another human being.
Sensing something was wrong, Dane and Eri began walking more openly. Still, there was no reaction whatsoever. It was genuinely bizarre. The building seemed completely unresponsive to intruders.
“…….”
“What happened here…?”
Dane quickly picked the lock on the nearest door and opened it.
What they witnessed inside was—
“Guh… eeee… eeeeeeeeeek!!!”
The thing that had once been human was human no longer.