Chapter 158: The Traitor of Humankind, Deon Hart (6)
Chapter 158: The Traitor of Humankind, Deon Hart (6)
Reweche had absorbed the Taehon Kingdom. They had promised protection, supplies, and other support, they said.
And Taehon had a boundary line. The very same boundary line I had personally crossed to confirm.
Since the bulk of the territory was advancing north toward the Empire, a boundary line linked to the south was considered utterly useless. I had remembered it but shoved it into a corner of my mind. This seemed like the chance to use it.
"......Before that, Dvelania."
"Yes, Deon... Lord Demon."
"You can call me whatever's comfortable here. More importantly, do you know the personality of that Reweche general? As far as I know...."
"He's upright, isn't he?"
"I believe I heard he was upright."
Just as I thought.
"Taehon has a boundary line. They'll be aware of it too, but since we've been banging on the Empire's gates and neglecting that area, they've likely loosened their guard. One week after I finish my 'warning toward the human realm,' the 5th Legion will cross over there and do what's commonly called 'smashing things up.'"
"......Me?"
The 5th Legion Commander Oel, who had been sitting blankly, flinched in surprise and looked at Deon.
"Yes. You can run wild to your heart's content. Of course, only to an extent that doesn't overextend yourself, as far as your capacity allows. If it turns out to be easier than expected, you can go ahead and swallow up the Taehon Kingdom itself."
The goal was continental conquest anyway, so eating it early wasn't a major problem.
Well, not that it would actually happen.
Perhaps because the major force of the 5th Legion was moving, the Demon King, who had been quietly observing the situation so far, subtly raised his hand.
"Could I ask for a slightly more detailed explanation?"
"It's a raid by the '5th Legion' — not some ordinary troops — so a small kingdom like Taehon would be helpless. The King of Reweche, having already made a pact of alliance with the Empire and Sanguk, can't afford to show negligence toward his promises, so he'll inevitably scrape together troops and send support."
"Well, that would be so."
"Part of his forces will be sent to the Empire, and another part to Taehon, so Reweche's national defense will be considerably weakened."
The Demon King, who had been listening quietly, tilted his head slightly.
"......You intend to strike Reweche before the Empire?"
Because he had already predicted what Deon would use to issue a warning toward the human realm, a note of confusion naturally seeped into his eyes.
Fortunately, it seemed his prediction hadn't been wrong; Deon shook his head.
"No. Didn't I say an example was needed?"
For that to work, Reweche had to become both the first nation to break the alliance and the last nation to collapse.
"While maintaining the offensive toward the Empire, if we send a suitable-level commander and troops to attack Reweche with its weakened defenses, the desperate king would request support from the Empire and Sanguk. He couldn't withdraw the support sent to Taehon, his vassal state under promised protection, so he'd contact his allies."
Since the Demon Realm didn't have infinite troops, the force sent would amount to barely breaching one castle at best with luck, but it could give sufficient threat. Generally, demons looked so savage it was hard to gauge their skill just by sight.
So the King of Reweche, already on edge with his weakened defenses, would startle like a rabbit at the mere fact that demon troops had arrived at his castle gates.
Deon fiddled with the corner of his mouth.
"He'd likely request the return of the support he sent, or request support from his allies... but."
"From the Emperor's standpoint, it would be difficult to send the borrowed support back safely. And sending support when his own forces are already stretched thin would be even harder. Even if he did send some, it would obviously be expendable token troops just for show. And Sanguk wasn't a kingdom with ample forces to begin with, so even if they sent support, it wouldn't be much."
"Yes. Most importantly, the Emperor threw the borrowed troops into the Paras Territory, where the fiercest fighting is. It's only proper for a sovereign to reduce his own people's casualties through the blood of foreign nationals. So pulling the borrowed troops back out is a task in itself, and even if he replaces the borrowed troops with his own and sends them back, a great deal of time will have passed after all those procedures."
Reweche couldn't sit idly waiting through that gap of time.
"In the end, the king's younger brother, the 'general,' would step forward and say he'll stop it himself."
Given his upright nature, even if the king tried to dissuade him saying it was dangerous, he would ultimately step forward.
The Demon King, having finished understanding, wore a delighted smile across his face.
"I'll lend you Dvelania."
"Thank you."
If it were Dvelania, she could easily take his head.
They were said to be inseparable siblings, so the king would lose his reason. He would grieve extremely, despair, and in the end be consumed by rage.
Rage toward the Emperor who took everything and gave nothing, or rage toward the two sovereigns who sent shoddy token troops for show.
Since the alliance had lost its meaning, he would naturally dissolve it.
'The critical point here is to absolutely not attack an isolated Reweche.'
If we attacked and occupied it, the other allied nations of the human realm would band together even more strongly. Having witnessed the end of a kingdom that splintered off.
But what if the Demon Realm never attacked Reweche alone?
'Other kingdoms would start trying to dissolve their alliances too.'
In a political landscape as complicated as this, you couldn't rest easy just because you had made another kingdom your vassal. Especially if you had roped them in with a silver tongue rather than force of arms.
They had become vassals for the safety and benefit of their nations, not to suffer losses.
"Good."
As if to clear the atmosphere, the Demon King clapped his hands a couple of times.
"Then we'll proceed as our supreme commander says, and the meeting ends here."
"Thank you for your efforts."
"Ah, Deon."
As the Legion Commanders rose from their seats and began to file out one by one, Deon, who had been getting up while holding his cube, paused and looked back at the Demon King.
"Did you know? The restrictions on demon-kind, whether they came through the boundary line or through contracts, vanish when facing a 'Hero' or 'hero'?"
"......."
......He deliberately told me late.
Strength went into the hand holding the cube.
I couldn't deny it was important information, but how could I be pleased when he was playing pranks, dangling information like this?
A low voice leaked from between clenched teeth.
"Thank you for the information."
"It's nothing. Ah, and."
"......."
"I understand how you feel, but do try to go easy on the medicine."
This wasn't even worth answering.
Deon quietly fiddled with the corner of his mouth, then turned his back just like that.
.......
The very first thing he spotted upon stepping outside was Ed, engaged in a war of nerves with Dan; Ben, looking at the two of them with a pitiful expression; and...... Dvelania, who appeared to have been waiting for him to come out.
......Right, there were things I had to hear from Dvelania. Had I said I would combine the information the Demon King investigated himself with what Dvelania had investigated, and hand it back to her? That was why I'd said I'd hear the report from her.
'Well, I had assigned her separate work anyway.'
There was no loss here since I could hear everything at once.
Deon spotted me and gestured for Dan and Ed — who were rushing forward as if their earlier confrontation had never happened — to step back for a moment, then faced Dvelania.
"How did the task I assigned you fare?"
There were two pieces of information he needed to hear from Dvelania.
Initially, right after the last trip to the Empire, he had only asked through the Demon King for information on 'what the Duke treasured most.' But afterward, Deon had issued a personal order and commanded that it be prioritized above all else.
'Recovering Cruel Hart's corpse.'
He had roughly given her the location. He had told her to go check if Cruel's corpse was there, and if it was, to recover it.
But.
"......Why are your hands trembling?"
"That is......."
It was ominous. A chill ran to the tips of his fingers.
It had clearly been a simple order. An order that shouldn't have taken long at all.
"......Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since I gave the order, and there's been no word until now."
"......I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I'd already anticipated that recovering the corpse intact would be difficult. Surely you didn't fail to tell me until now because of that?"
"......."
At the continued silence, Deon quietly clenched his fist.
"......Surely not, you couldn't even recover the corpse?"
"Truly... truly, I'm sorry."
"......It's alright."
Right, I'd anticipated this much. It was a completely unsurprising piece of news.
Deon lightly ran his hand down his face and composed his expression.
"That can't be the whole story. If it were just that, there'd be no reason for you to be trembling this much."
"......There were traces that his head had been cut off."
"......."
"Traces that someone had cut off the corpse's head......"
"That's enough."
Ah, honestly.
At the news being even more devastating than he'd thought, he ultimately failed to manage his expression and raised a hand to cover his face.
"Are you alright...? I really am sorry......"
"No, yes. Yes, it's alright."
"......."
"Really."
It was fine. It had to be fine.
Dvelania was a demon-race holding the high rank of the 2nd Legion Commander. He couldn't let his 'authority' crumble here by showing himself pathetically agitated.
After a long silence, Deon, having barely straightened his collapsed expression, lowered the hand that had been covering his face.
"You said... there were traces of the head being cut off. If so, what about the torso?"
"Traces that someone else took that as well......"
"......I see."
'Someone else,' meaning different entities from those who cut off the head.
"Was there a time gap?"
"Yes, the torso appears to have been taken by someone who came about three days after the head was cut off."
"......."
Deon tucked his faintly trembling hand into his chest and pulled out a distinctively shaped cigarette.
He didn't know about the torso, but he felt he knew who had cut off the head and why.
'Those bastards who tried to kill me and my brother that day.'
Their original objective had been to kill me.
Since they had missed me, they would have needed proof that they had at least definitely killed Cruel, the traitor and obstructor. So... so.......
'Damn it.'
Deon, who had stopped thinking it through, cursed inwardly and placed the cigarette between his lips.
Standing at a distance where voices couldn't be heard and glancing this way with anxious eyes, Ben seemed to notice this; his eyes went wide and he came running over in a dash.
"Medicine is not allowed, Lord De...mon! What are you trying to do in that physical condition!"
"......."
"Take this instead, please!"
Not seeming to notice the expression of incredulity, Ben snatched the unlit cigarette from Deon's hand and pressed a pill reeking heavily of grass into it.
Good heavens, Dvelania let out a small gasp of admiration.
'What on earth is that guy's nerve made of?'
Dem... Lord Deon had become much harder to deal with ever since that time he was seriously ill. He'd changed so much you could say nearly everything that comprised him was different.
Elegant bearing and refined speech. An imperious aura that elevated even his occasional hemoptysis into dignity. That attitude, close to perfection with no gap to speak of, came across as a thick wall to all demon-kind.
How could one dare to easily approach someone who ought to be seated upon that high throne? Even meeting his eyes felt sinful.
Whether Dvelania was appalled or not, Deon glanced at Ben at the sensation of the pill touching his hand. The familiar scent reached him even from some distance away, so he knew what it was without looking.
"It's a sedative."
A remedy made from fairy tribe herbs.
A medicine he had taken many times already. Since its efficacy was outstanding, Deon put it into his mouth without a word and gestured for Ben to withdraw with a wave of his hand.
Surprisingly, it was Dvelania who stopped Ben as he kept glancing back anxiously, unable to readily leave.
"You don't need to send him away. You were about to ask about the first task you assigned me, weren't you?"
"......Yes."
"It's still ambiguous... I need a bit more time. Once more information is gathered, I'll combine it and present it all at once. Will you permit that?"
"Do so."
There was still time remaining.
Dvelania, having bowed her head in thanks for the ready affirmation, glanced at Ben and then withdrew.
From a distance, Dan and Ed, who had been watching Ben with anxious eyes and gauging the mood, realized the conversation had ended and hurriedly approached.
Ed pushed Dan's face — who had opened his mouth as if to call out 'Master' — squish firmly away with his hand, and spoke.
"De...."
"Lord Demon!"