147
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 147
The next morning arrived.
The raindrops were falling violently as if they were about to shatter the barracks.
However, the noise created by the raindrops' self-sacrificing assault could not block the loud voices created by the staff members' saliva inside the barracks.
"If there are over 10,000 succubi and vampires beyond the eagle valley, we must concentrate the allied forces here immediately, Commander."
"Succubi and vampires do not sleep and do not get tired. They can fight day and night as long as there are living creatures."
"There's no guarantee that they won't fly here and launch a surprise attack right now."
"We must send scouts immediately!"
"What nonsense are you talking about? After fighting the succubi for a year, don't you know what kind of beings they are? Sending scouts without magic resistance will only become the minions of the succubi and cause confusion!"
"So are you saying we should just sit here idly? At the very least, we should send scouts to confirm safe areas so that the wizards can cast alarm magic."
Words collided, intertwined, broke, disappeared, crouched, and then stretched out repeatedly.
People were afraid of ultimately reaching a conclusion where they could do nothing, so they let meaningless words crash and break.
How could a single brigade-level unit block 10,000 succubi and vampires?
Of course, there were 300 wizards, but that was far from enough.
Caesar maintained silence with Colonel Timber, Raven, and Elijah.
Each had different reasons for their silence.
Timber was originally the type to listen to the staff's words and then make a decisive decision.
Raven was conceptualizing a group defense magic that could block the succubi' hypnosis spells.
Elijah was calm because he knew that the succubi and vampires beyond were not planning to invade the brigade.
And lastly, Caesar was waiting for the right moment.
Flutter!
A knight wearing a raincoat rushed into the barracks.
Immediately, all the staff members' mouths stopped.
The knight knelt before Elijah.
"A message has arrived from the succubi and vampires."
At the word ‘message’, Raven reacted.
Raven waved her wand and magically checked the message for any problems before it reached Elijah.
"It's clean."
Elijah did not take the letter from Raven.
"Wizard Raven, please read it."
Raven nodded and opened the letter.
The letter was written in Mongma, one of the languages of the demon race.
"At 10 o'clock this morning. In front of the Eagle valley, we wish to proceed with negotiations. Come."
Raven folded the letter.
"That's it."
The staff members spoke up.
"This is a trap! You absolutely must not go."
"But shouldn't we at least hear what the succubi have to say?"
Some argued they should go, others said they shouldn't, raising their voices while claiming their arguments were correct.
Their gazes continuously glanced at Elijah.
Everyone knew this was a decision Elijah would make.
Elijah heavy mouth opened.
"I, Caesar, and Raven will go."
"No! It's too dangerous!"
"Who dares to challenge the decision of the Allied Commander?"
The staff members' words were easily crushed by Elijah's roar.
"I will go. Raven and Caesar should ride the Pegasus. I will ride my own mount. We have only 3 hours left, so leaving now will be just tight."
Caesar and Raven stood up.
"We will follow the order."
The time has come.
***
Caesar, carrying Raven, pierced through the raging wind and rain.
Originally, riding a Pegasus on such a rainy day was incredibly difficult.
It was hard to get proper lift, the body becomes heavy with moisture, and if unlucky, one could easily be struck by lightning.
But if a wizard is riding, it's a different story.
Raven cast a shield magic on Caesar and Whitey to avoid the rain.
Thanks to this, Caesar and Whitey could go to Eagle valley without getting a single raindrop on them.
"...There it is."
Raven saw the succubi and vampires beyond the broken bridge.
Raven tapped Caesar's shoulder and said,
"If those guys do something suspicious, I'll immediately escape using space transfer magic. So let's hide Whitey in the rear."
"Understood."
Caesar gently placed the whitey in a somewhat distant location.
Afterward, he pushed it between the gaps of a collapsed tree to prevent it from getting rained on.
"Stay here quietly. I'll come right away if any problem occurs."
Raven waved her wand.
With a feeling of space distorting, Caesar suddenly found himself standing on a bridge.
It was a spatial transfer.
At that very moment, Elijah had also arrived on the bridge.
Elijah stroked his magical mount 'Black Lion' and spoke:
"Rest here."
Elijah walked on the bridge.
Caesar and Raven followed behind him on the broken bridge.
Eventually, they stopped at the broken end of the bridge.
Far away, Agatha, Borden, and Agatha's younger sister Maya were hazily visible due to the water mist.
The distance between them was approximately 30m.
In this strong wind and rain, it was difficult to even see and impossible to have a normal conversation.
But we had Raven.
Raven cast a sound amplification spell on Elijah.
Elijah spoke:
"Let's start with introductions. What is your name? I am the Allied Forces Commander Elijah Friedrich."
Agatha opened her mouth:
"I'm Agatha Reinwaltz."
Agatha lightly moved her foot.
Suddenly, countless flowers began rising from her tiptoes.
These flowers covered the collapsed bridge and cliff, eventually becoming a flower garden, and a marble pavilion was created beyond the cliff.
"I am the Queen of the succubi and the Lord of the Vampires."
Agatha pointed to the pavilion and spoke.
"Come over. You have a lot to say."
Raven spoke:
"How can we trust you?"
"Ha, trust..."
Agatha found Raven's words so amusing that she involuntarily snorted.
The only real human here is Raven.
Not knowing that, she talks about 'trust', which was nothing but ridiculous.
"Fine. Poor magician, then how can we be made to trust?"
"Wait."
Raven carefully calculated the magic and then waved her wand.
Droplets falling between the broken bridges collided in mid-air.
The colliding droplets spread out in ripples and began to freeze.
These ice pieces connected and clustered, creating the architectural structure Raven had envisioned.
It was a bridge.
Made entirely of ice, even with a roof, it looked like a massive ice cave in a snowy field.
Agatha was purely amazed by Raven's magical skills.
"Now I understand why you're so famous."
It's not particularly difficult for a magician to freeze water in summer.
But creating ice in such a precise strength and form as she just did is by no means easy.
"Let's have only a brief conversation inside."
Raven's words echoed like a resonance.
Agatha shrugged her shoulders.
"If you're so uneasy, I can do that."
Agatha, Borden, and Maya entered the ice cave, and simultaneously, Elijah, Caesar, and Raven also went inside.
Raven raised her magic perception to the extreme to check the emotional states of Agatha, Borden, and Maya.
Maya was tense, Borden was calm, and Agatha was furiously angry enough to potentially melt the ice cave.
The anger emanating from Agatha was not just burning but sharply honed, entirely directed at Elijah.
Raven felt slightly uneasy and decided to prepare shield magic and various mental defense spells.
As they got close enough, they stopped without any signal.
Elijah spoke:
"So, why did you want to see us?"
"To rescue you poor souls struggling in anxiety."
Agatha took out a letter from her bosom and handed it to Borden.
Borden passed the letter to Caesar.
Caesar immediately opened the letter.
"Everything of our intent is written inside."
Caesar showed the letter to Elijah and Raven.
"First, we have no intention of attacking you. Of course, if you attack us first, that would be a different story. We want a mutual non-aggression treaty."
"Second, we want to make a deal with you. Hand over all the succubi and Vampires you're holding as prisoners. If you do, we'll provide a corresponding compensation."
"Third, the Eagle valley will become the territory of our succubi and Vampires from now on. Do not cross over anymore."
"Lastly, fourth..."
Agatha glared at Elijah.
"I want to talk to Elijah Friedrich alone."
"Absolutely not."
Raven glared at Agatha.
"How can we believe your words? Is there any guarantee that you won't gather the Orcs and Beast people to invade Luxhope?"
Agatha responded with a noble and dignified gaze.
"If we wanted to wage war with you, we wouldn't have painstakingly targeted the Eagle valley. Don't you think it would have been more strategic to launch a surprise attack on the Luxhope port, which is currently in post-war recovery?"
Agatha wore a faint smile.
"Right now, Yan, Mitchell, Caesar, and you aren't even in Luxhope."
Raven felt chills down her spine.
She couldn't comprehend the source of their intelligence.
Were the doppelgangers still hiding in the demon realm?
How exactly would they communicate with Agatha?
Or was there another method of information circulation?
When everything was filled with questions, Elijah spoke.
"Let's carefully consider the first to third points. Also, by my authority as the Allied Forces Commander, I'll proceed with a temporary non-aggression treaty until the negotiation proposal is passed."
Raven didn't object to Elijah's decision.
Anyway, if those 10,000 succubi and vampires launched an attack on the main base right now, everything would be destroyed.
So buying time wasn't such a bad choice.
"And we'll accept the fourth condition right now. Caesar, Raven. Both of you are to leave and report to the headquarters."
Raven looked at Elijah with shocked eyes.
What on earth was he thinking, wanting to be left alone with the Queen of succubi?
The Friedreich family had traditionally been enemies with succubi and vampires.
Since the empire's founding, the Friedrich family had killed the most vampires and succubi, and they had also been responsible for tracking down and capturing succubi and vampires hidden across the continent.
With the Succubi Queen hating Elijah so intensely, being alone together could lead to unpredictable consequences.
"No..."
"That's an order, Raven. Leave."
Elijah's lion-like gaze fixed on Raven.
Raven wasn't overwhelmed by Elijah's charisma.
However, she couldn't refuse the order.
Although Raven was a great magician and a member of the hero's party, she had no right to refuse the command of the Allied Forces Commander and head of the Friedrich family.
Raven ultimately resigned herself to the situation.
"Understood."
Only Elijah and Agatha remained on the ice bridge where white frost gently fell.
Despite the bone-chilling cold, it couldn't cool Agatha's boiling anger.
Therefore, she had to carefully suppress her murderous intent.
Caesar was still beside Elijah, and her decision was linked to the lifelines of over 10,000 vampires and succubi.
Agatha glanced sideways at Caesar, who was leaving the bridge.
This meeting would never have happened without Caesar's presence.
She must use this opportunity carefully.
This would likely be the last moment she could calmly face and talk with Elijah.
Agatha recalled Caesar and barely gathered her composure.
"Hey, doppelganger."
Elijah chuckled and pulled out a pocket whiskey.
"Judging by your sharp tone, Caesar must have influenced you."
Elijah opened the cap and took a swig.
"Your mother resembled the founder of the Reinwaltz family quite a bit. She methodically guided the succubi to suck human life force in a surprisingly humanitarian way. Well, treating humans like pigs or cattle is still the same, but... I believe your mother died because of that clumsy benevolen–"
"Shut your mouth!"
Agatha wanted to be as cautious as possible, but when he mentioned her mother, being cautious became impossible.
Elijah chuckled.
"How immature. A queen who can't hide her emotions. Caesar is helping someone like you? How disappointing. Good abilities, but doesn't know how to read people."
Elijah pulled out a cigar.
"Or is he unable to handle a woman?"
"I said shut up!"
Agatha's scream cracked the ice cave.
Elijah looked at her with amusement.
"Oh my. How interesting."
Elijah felt the unprecedented 'power' in Agatha's words.
"Are you the new Demon King?"