203
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 203
Belial stood up and approached the doppelganger.
"Doppelganger, what should I call you?"
"Names are meaningless. Just call me Doppelganger."
"There must be something others call you by?"
"I don't exist to be called by anyone. Devil. I was born to deliver messages."
He degraded his own worth to that of a messenger pigeon.
Yet judging by his mild manner of speaking, he truly seemed to believe his worth was nothing more than that of a message bearer.
Dealing with someone like this is very simple.
Torturing or tormenting him out of spite would be nothing but a waste of energy.
Just ask him what you want to know and deeply contemplate the intentions of the master using him.
"That means someone ordered you to deliver a message, but who exactly?"
"You don't need to know. It shouldn't be important to you."
"Of course it's important. Whether to believe your information depends on its source."
"Then I won't tell you. Believe it or not, that's up to you."
The Prophet who was standing behind stepped angrily toward the doppelganger.
"You worthless piece of trash, who do you think you're dealing with...!"
Belial raised his hand to stop the Prophet.
"Stay still. This one is purely a tool. Getting excited will only disadvantage us."
"Belial. Can't you see? This one deliberately approached us to use us. Give me just 5 minutes. I'll make him docile."
Belial glared at the Prophet.
"Do I need to repeat myself?"
Flinch!
The Prophet respectfully stepped back.
"...I apologize."
"Don't you understand why he can't reveal his master to us? His master is a coward who's extremely afraid of revealing themselves."
Even at these disparaging words about his master, he showed no reaction.
This revealed one more thing, he doesn't even know the emotion of loyalty.
Who could be the master handling such an emotionless being?
Even Belial, who had lived for nearly 100 years, found this unique existence somewhat intriguing as he had never seen anything like it before.
"Alright, doppelganger who serves a coward. What did your master tell you to relay to me?"
"Caesar."
"...Caesar?"
"You must be wondering who killed Geotech. The culprit is Caesar."
Caesar was someone Belial knew well.
The savior of Luxhope.
The only mediator who could communicate with the Demon King.
King of Homigraph.
Devil Slayer.
Wasn't he the one who appeared like a comet in the past 2 years?
"I acknowledge Caesar is quite capable. But enough to kill Geotech? As far as I know, until recently he barely managed to kill a devilized Twin-headed Ogre. He shouldn't be capable of killing Geotech who had become a disaster?"
"That's also correct. But it's certain that he killed Geotech."
"But there's no evidence, is there? How and why did Caesar kill Geotech?"
"Your doubts are valid. Even with Raven's help, he certainly shouldn't be capable of killing Geotech."
"Are you saying Caesar has a secret?"
"Yes. Caesar is Barre."
"...What?"
Belial doubted his ears.
"You're saying Caesar is Barre? What does that mean?"
"Let me be more precise. Caesar was originally Barre, and Barre was a doppelganger. That's why he could easily kill Geotech."
There was no need to explain who Barre was.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Barre's appearance had changed the tide of the demon realm war.
"Is that really true?"
"The demons under Agatha know that Caesar and Barre are doppelgangers. They're just turning a blind eye because they need Caesar."
"Why are you telling us this secret?"
"You shouldn't think you're dealing with Caesar, but rather that you're dealing with Barre."
Belial thought deeply.
He was planning to deal with Caesar anyway.
After all, he had interfered with Niflheim's plans more than once.
But if Caesar is Barre, that's a different story.
"Then this conversation is meaningless. I won't kill Caesar."
The doppelganger tilted his head.
"What's the reason? Caesar has interfered with your work."
"Because killing Barre would likely bring more harm than benefit. Sword energy can't even enter his body and most magic doesn't work on him. If we needlessly provoke him, we might end up being the ones getting hurt."
If Belial could have killed Barre, he would have killed Yan and Mitchell too.
The reason Belial and the Prophets were hiding was because Yan had been tracking and killing the Prophets.
With their current power, trying to kill Barre would be no different from taking on an enormous risk.
"Caesar will continue to interfere with your work."
"The order given to me by the King of Niflheim was to conquer and offer the demon realm. Rather than Caesar, it's Agatha who interferes with my work. Agatha is uniting the demon race and inscribing order in the demon realm. We want chaos, not order. That way, we'll gain more comrades."
"If you target Agatha, Caesar won't stay still. He's a doppelganger who has sworn loyalty to Agatha."
Belial's hand touched the doppelganger's right shoulder.
"That's not your concern, Doppelganger."
Sizzle!
As the sound of burning flesh came from the doppelganger's right arm, Belial's right hand dug deep into the shoulder.
Despite experiencing burning pain, the highest form of pain a human can endure, torturing the doppelganger's nervous system, the doppelganger didn't even flinch.
"I want chaos in the demon realm, Doppelganger. Right after the chaos, my king will come to the demon realm and rule it with the king's order and law."
Belial stepped on the severed arm of the creature.
It instantly burst into flames, leaving only bone powder.
"So tell your master this. If you want to kill Caesar, don't just plot with your tongue like now, but bring me a realistic and specific plan that benefits me. Then I'll think about it more."
The doppelganger stood up.
"I will relay that."
"Open the path."
"I don't need a path. I'll go on my own."
The doppelganger transformed its body into a black pigeon.
The doppelganger flew up through the rain.
"I'll come when we need you."
"That sounds like you'll be watching us."
"Our eyes are throughout the demon realm."
With those final words, the doppelganger disappeared into a dot.
Belial spoke to the prophets.
"Look into what's been happening with Caesar recently and what he's aiming for in detail."
"Are you thinking of killing Caesar?"
"I must kill him. He'll be a big hindrance to Niflheim. Of course, that doesn't mean I can appear to be used by that doppelganger's master. So when his master makes an appropriate proposal, I'll pretend to give in and start hunting Caesar."
Then, Raum approached cautiously.
"Lord Belial. I heard that Caesar has been interacting with the beast people recently. This morning, our dolls saw him entering the beast people village riding a Pegasus."
"Is that so? Then let's start from there. Send more dolls to find out exactly why Caesar is coming and going from the beast people forest."
"Yes, understood."
***
The path to the Guardian Tree was longer than expected.
As it would be awkward to walk in silence, Caesar decided to ask something he was curious about.
"Are you in the middle of building houses? Or are they completed?"
The beast people houses commonly had nothing that could be called walls.
They at least had roofs that could block rain, but even those seemed to be made out of necessity, if not needed, they probably wouldn't have made them.
"They're completed."
"Then why do they look unfinished with holes everywhere?"
"To receive the Guardian Tree's light at night."
"Light?"
"Yes. Beast people need to receive the Guardian Tree's light to conceive children and for the baby in the womb to grow. Also, when young beast people receive the Guardian Tree's light, they naturally learn how to handle magic."
Now I understand why these creatures cherish the Guardian Tree so much.
Without the Guardian Tree, the beast people lineage would end.
Gloria couldn't contain her curiosity and spoke up.
"I have a question, so then, do you not do that?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, that... The thing you do at night."
"Ah, you mean mating?"
Gloria's face turned slightly red at the direct expression.
"Ahem! Yes, that!"
"That's necessary too. That's why priests like me exist. I help provide places for beast people to share love and assist in caring for pregnant beast people. That's the second most important duty as a priest. The first is obviously managing the Guardian Tree."
"So priests play roles similar to postpartum care providers, obstetricians, and nurses?"
"I'm not sure exactly what those are, but if it involves caring for fetuses and children, then yes."
While chatting and walking, they finally arrived in front of the Guardian Tree.
"Is that the Guardian Tree?"
"Yes."
"It's really making it obvious that it's the Guardian Tree."
The Guardian Tree wasn't giving off green or brown light, but rather an overall soft golden glow.
It was about 5m tall, which made it small compared to other trees that were at least 15m tall.
"Isn't it too small to receive sunlight? Shouldn't you cut down the other trees?"
"We're already working on gradually moving the surrounding trees. The mountain tigers are slowly pushing them away while being careful not to damage their roots."
"Ah..."
Next, Caesar looked at the houses surrounding the Guardian Tree.
Unlike the other open houses, the ones near the Guardian Tree had walls.
Some walls were made of dirt, some were made of loose branches and fallen leaves, and some were made of rocks.
Behind the Guardian Tree was a small lake with waist-high vegetation.
If these 'houses' had one thing in common, it was that they all had no walls facing the Guardian Tree.
It seemed to be for receiving the Guardian Tree's light.
"...I can tell just by looking. Is this where that happens?"
"Each tribe calls it by a different name, but since it's where gods dwell, we usually call it the Sacred Place. I don't understand why you refer to the sacred act of creating children so shamefully."
"Don't you think you're being too open about it?"
"This is our daily life. Rather, I'm the one who doesn't understand you people."
Yes, this must be what they call cultural differences.
Of course, from the beast people's perspective, it's a cultural difference born out of necessity.
We should respect what needs to be respected.
Though it won't be easy for a Confucian boy like me to accept.
Caesar saw the priests sweeping around the Sacred Place.
"So that's why it's kept so clean?"
"Yes. Priests like myself manage the Guardian Tree while cleaning and organizing the Sacred Place."
"You're doing very important work. Especially during times like these."
"Yes. Because now is the time for beast people to prosper."
"But I'm curious about something, didn't you say the Red Fox beast people and Wolf beast people don't get along? Wouldn't there have been big fights over one Guardian Tree?"
"Obviously if tribes competed over one Guardian Tree, we wouldn't get along with the Shadow Otter tribe or Mountain Tiger tribe either. To be precise, we had four Guardian Trees. Each tribe managed one."
Though there's only one Guardian Tree now, it seems there will be four later.
"Of course, since the Red Fox tribe's Guardian Tree and Gray Wolf tribe's Guardian Tree were only 2,000 mokgan apart, we often clashed. Peace never lasted more than ten days, and there were frequent disputes over hunting grounds and territories."
"What's a mokgan?"
"It's the beast people's unit of distance. The distance between trees is called 1 mokgan."
"Then how far is 2,000 mokgan?"
The answer came from Raven.
"Since trees seem to be about 10m apart, it would be about 20km."
"That's close enough to fight over."
20km is about half the circumference of Sapientia.
If different countries were that close together, all sorts of problems would arise.
Especially when you need to hunt, gather, build homes, and live within that space.
"Now I understand why beast people cherish the Guardian Trees so much."
"Isn't it obvious since they need Guardian Trees to reproduce?"
"No, there's another reason why beast people can't help but love Guardian Trees, besides that."
Raven felt the magic waves emanating from the Guardian Tree.
"The magic waves coming from Guardian Trees are identical to those produced when someone is in love. Their impact and influence are overwhelmingly stronger than human ones. Being exposed to such magic waves daily, beast people can't help but love Guardian Trees."
"Yes. We always feel the love from Guardian Trees. That's why we spend our free time sitting around the Guardian Tree doing small tasks. Just that alone brings great happiness."
Raven looked up at the majestic Guardian Tree and spoke.
"Are you saying there were three more Guardian Trees like this? Where are the other three?"
"To be precise, this Guardian Tree is quite young. It appears to be barely a month old."
"A month? Then are there five Guardian Trees in this land?"
"No, the other four all withered and died."
Arang guided Caesar's group to stone-carved tables and chairs.
"Shortly after the Demon Realm War began, all four Guardian Trees started withering simultaneously and died within just a year."
"Why did they suddenly die?"
"We naturally thought it was your doing. But thinking about it now, you who didn't even know about Guardian Trees couldn't have killed them."
Caesar knew who killed the Guardian Trees.
"It was Elijah. He told me he did it."
"...So it was his doing after all. It seems Elijah is involved in most of the sinister events in the Demon Realm."
At Arang's gesture, priests approached and set up refreshments.
Fragrant tea was poured into cups and fruits were served.
"So we're preventing Elijah's doppelgangers from approaching to prevent the Guardian Tree from withering again."
"Have any doppelgangers come near?"
"A few times. But they only scouted and left. That's why we've heightened our vigilance. We can't lose another Guardian Tree."
Then the priests brought two small boxes.
Arang opened one box, checked its contents, and spoke.
"Caesar, you did more than I asked. You rescued the captured beast people and even completely killed Geotech. I really pondered what to give you."
Arang handed Caesar the box he had just opened.
"This is my reward for that."
Even without opening the box, Caesar seemed to know what was inside.
This fragrant smell.
It must be an elixir.
Caesar carefully opened it.
Inside was a thick, alluring ginseng root.
"...This is."
"It's Millennium Ginseng. An elixir that the Red Fox tribe found and kept for a long time. I prepared it thinking you might need it."