Chapter 184
Chapter 184
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: Sunrise of the Republic
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Only one Archdemon remained.
Valkyria dodged the fragments falling from the crumbling banquet hall ceiling while scanning her surroundings.
Her eyes fixed on Stella's holy power, which had spread out like a birdcage, and the spear she had gripped so firmly loosened in her hand.
In my opinion, Valkyria was the Archdemon who gave off the most demonic impression.
The wings on her back resembled those of an angel, but her skin tone and eyes were straight out of the devil image known on old Earth.
[We need to hurry.]
Stella whispered that it was getting harder to handle the holy power any longer.
It certainly seemed we couldn't drag this out any further, so I looked up at Valkyria.
The Archdemon of Struggle.
Like Magan of Gluttony or Dune of Pride, each Archdemon had a special domain tied to their epithet.
Magan had grown exponentially stronger through the banquet.
Dune's power amplified in duels fought over pride.
As her epithet suggested, Valkyria was an Archdemon related to battle.
But had she ever truly engaged in struggle since arriving here?
Against Tairn, it was just a warm-up.
Her fight with me lasted only a moment.
When she met Stella, she couldn't even resist and just ran.
The battles had been nothing but one-sided violence, repeated over and over, leaving Valkyria utterly powerless, her name a mockery.
In that tense moment, wondering if she'd die embracing her Archdemon pride like Dune or show something else—
"I surrender."
Clang!
Her expression, twisted with humiliation and rage, relaxed as her spear fell to the floor.
Our eyes—mine and Stella's—met in shock at the unexpected declaration, confirming we'd both heard right.
A surrender so clean it belied her epithet of Struggle. Valkyria folded her wings and descended.
The ground blazed with Stella's flames, so she stepped onto the debris from the collapsed ceiling and knelt without hesitation.
"I lost. But is killing me truly the path to the future you desire?"
Her brazen tone left me dumbfounded. But Valkyria held a negotiation card for survival.
"What do you think would happen if all the Republic's Archdemons died?"
"......"
"It's true Magan handled internal affairs alone with his crown. But the Clock Republic is a land we four demons crafted to our tastes—ripe for the taking."
With each Archdemon infusing their preferences, other demons couldn't resist coveting it.
"The moment all four Archdemons die, others will come to this land."
"You can stop that?"
"Of course! And I can handle the aftermath of this incident too."
That was my biggest worry.
Unintentionally, I'd brought the Republic down by killing Magan, its mainstay.
Could I say it all ended in a happy ending?
Even if the laws were iron bars overgrown with thorns, they were still laws.
If those bars suddenly vanished in an abnormal way, no sense of liberation from freedom would remain—only chaos.
Another Magan might rise, or it could devolve into lawless wastes.
External pressures could fade the Clock Republic's name entirely.
'Especially ripe for neighboring nations to devour.'
The invited dignitaries from those nations had all been massacred.
Magan had tried planting spies with cigars and bugs in other countries.
But the plan failed, leaving only mangled corpses.
'It's already...'
The Clock Republic was finished.
With justification, diplomatic pressure—not to mention outright war—would come from nations eager to bite.
"With me here, that won't—"
"Bullshit."
A beast-like growl came from beside me.
Pindenai approached through the flames, axe slung over her shoulder, glaring at Valkyria.
"Where do you get off spouting crap?"
"Pindenai..."
Surprisingly, Valkyria knew Pindenai—and her voice held not hostility, but gladness.
"Take responsibility? What can you do for this doomed country?"
"......"
"You're just saying crawl back into the pen you made. For the greater good, justification, the future—more bullshit!"
Thud!
Her blood-red eyes burned with hatred, her sharp fangs with fight.
This was Pindenai, leader of the Scrap Merchants.
"Pathetic, isn't it? Unexpected, sure, but I'm not kicking away the freedom we came for just because I lack confidence to take responsibility."
Valkyria tested her.
"Can you withstand the chaos and external pressures to come?"
"Yeah, you bitch."
"......"
"We survived your shitty oppression. We'll do it again."
Pindenai didn't mean she'd protect the Clock Republic. Her homeland or not, patriotism was foreign to her.
It was about freeing those who lived like livestock despite being human.
So no others would endure the pain and grit she'd known.
That resolve shone in her firmness.
[She got hit hard.]
"I see."
Valkyria's words stirred conflict and doubt in me briefly. I admitted Pindenai had convinced me.
Who should judge the freedom come to the Clock Republic? Naturally, Pindenai—who'd fought longest and fiercest on the front lines.
"Hah."
Valkyria let out a hollow laugh at Pindenai.
Laughter burst forth, thick regret in her eyes.
Pindenai drew her axe again, glaring.
The blade in the floor blazed with holy flames, dazzling.
"But let me deliver the final blow at least."
The last strike for the Clock Republic's freedom.
Stella and I humbly stepped back. Valkyria knelt, looking up at Pindenai.
"Pindenai, you are truly a great woman."
"What?"
Valkyria's words were shocking, opposite her pleading. We both knew Pindenai's arrival changed everything.
"Do you know why we Archdemons founded the Republic?"
"......"
"After that ancient war, we no longer wished to fight. But our desires remained."
I'd heard from Belica.
Long ago, demons warred, and survivors became Archdemons.
'A setting not even in the game.'
Demons weren't major in the game, so I knew none of this backstory.
"To sate those desires. This land was a grand table for Gluttony."
Magan had raised humans as livestock and devoured them.
"For Worship, a stage to don the mask of god."
The Republic's tragedies bred many calling for gods.
Payrun of Worship had played as many gods as his tails, feeding on faith.
"A place of cold and tragedy where human pride burned brighter."
Dune of Pride.
Oppressed by Extermination Squads, resisting tyranny— he'd reveled in their pride.
And finally.
"I felt ecstasy watching you all fight with your lives on the line."
"You dog bitch."
Pindenai tolerated the demon's last words in case Valkyria spilled info I needed.
But unable to bear more, she spat curses and glanced at me.
I nodded.
Nothing left to hear.
Why Archdemons made the Republic? Pathetic reasons.
The axe rose.
Even as death neared after a long life, Valkyria gazed only at Pindenai.
"Ah, aah. How can you be so beautiful?"
"......"
"Your life is struggle. Pure struggle itself. Pindenai."
"I hated that."
"Indeed. Having lived such a life, I understand."
Valkyria, named Archdemon of Struggle for countless battles.
Unable to forget the thrill and excitement, she seemed addicted to struggle like a drug fiend.
[Proxy satisfaction through Pindenai, I suppose.]
"Disgusting."
Valkyria had taken satisfaction watching Pindenai, who called life pure struggle.
How many Pindenais had passed through Valkyria in the Republic's history?
How many more substitutes if we hadn't stopped her?
"You know? Killing me means throwing yourselves back into endless struggle."
"Same as always."
"Heh heh, pity I won't see your life surpassing mine."
Gazing at the axe plunging toward her, Valkyria bid farewell.
"Congratulations on liberation, blessings on the struggles ahead."
Crunch!
Valkyria's headless corpse sank into Stella's flames.
She turned to ash in an instant. Stella's holy power, confirming the Archdemons' deaths, swiftly faded.
Though the white flames died, light now bathed the ruined banquet hall.
The rising sun.
For a moment, I thought—even the Clock Republic sees the sun rise.
Obvious, yet strangely alien.
"Hoo."
Watching the sunrise herald a new day for the Republic, Pindenai sighed with layered worries.
Nothing was over.
We'd dealt with Magan and hidden puppeteers.
But the Republic would become half-lawless for a while because of it.
To shoulder that responsibility for the land she'd made so, Pindenai steeled herself to run harder.
"Step aside a bit."
[Of course.]
I walked toward Pindenai's back as she gazed.
Stella tactfully withdrew. The Black Necromancer, who'd fled the holy power, clung to her at once.
[I know you worked hard this time. Come here. As your senior, I have words.]
[Hehe, Black Necromancer senior.]
[Even ghost Necromancers have rules? First, no smug laughs.]
Wondering what nonsense, I ignored them and stood by Pindenai.
She glanced at me with just her eyes, then resumed taking in the Republic.
The collapsed hall brought overflowing liberation. We were essentially outdoors now.
Clockwork, the Republic's capital, under the sunrise beyond the horizon.
"Damn brutal hellhole for sure. But from up here? Kinda pretty."
I nodded in agreement with Pindenai's sentiment.
Soldiers scrambling looked pathetic, though.
"Gonna be rough times ahead?"
"Yeah."
Hard times.
The Archdemon escaped responsibility in death; survivors must clean up.
"The Republic itself might vanish."
"Not bad?"
Pindenai chuckled shortly, nodding. She truly meant losing such a country was fine.
"Dramatic reunion. Been a while since we met again."
"I see."
Thinking back, after saving Pindenai, I'd been crushed by Magan right away.
This was our first talk since.
"Had questions. But asking now might just leave regrets."
Still eyeing Clockwork, she squatted, pulling out a cigar to chew.
Not lighting it was consideration for me.
I slowly extended a finger; a tiny flame danced at the tip.
"What's this?"
"Today only."
She lit it, inhaling deeply, savoring. The long smoke trail vanished in the high winds.
"Won't ask what you wanna know?"
Sulky tone.
I pondered, then smiled faintly.
"If it leaves regrets, better not to ask."
"...Fuck, sharp as hell."
Pindenai puffed her cigar, lips pursed adorably.
"So don't ask."
"Yeah, won't. Go dig it up yourself if curious."
"But I'll answer."
"...Huh?"
I turned to face her. As she rose, entranced from her squat—
I pulled her into my arms.
Very.
Gently.
"Ah...."
The cigar dropped.
Bewildered by the situation, Pindenai let out a maidenly gasp.
It was so.
Ridiculously.
Lovable.
"Seems like the same feelings you have."
Honestly.
I don't know well.
Compared to Deus's pure devotion toward Iluania.
This budding emotion in my blunt heart felt feeble.
But at least it was the same kind he'd made me feel.
Pindenai stiffened, speechless. Only fierce winds broke our silence.
Squelch.
Burrowing into my chest like a spoiled child, she whispered softly.
"Seems? Same? You bastard, that's how vague you're gonna be?"
"...This is my best for now."
"Testing me hard."
Her hands stayed around my waist despite the blame.
So I continued.
"I'll strive to give the answer you want."
I was certain that moment would come someday. Through her warmth, I felt I could change—unlike before.
"Do what you want. I'm not smart, might forget, so I'll say it now."
Squeeze.
Gripping tighter, hiding her face by ducking lower, she declared clearly.
"I fucking love you, Master."