Chapter 160: The Traitor of Humankind, Deon Hart (8)
"Sit here at this desk, and just speak."
He'd caught on the moment he saw it why the Demon King had gone to such lengths to arrange the setting.
It had to be a display, showing that the Demon Realm was kind even to a human who had betrayed and turned his back on the human world. That was why the three moons outside the window were placed as the backdrop, proof of the Demon Realm, and why they'd given him an opulent room to indirectly demonstrate how well they treated a human.
It was clearly an enormous advantage, the very weapon the Demon King would wield in the upcoming speech... so why did it leave such a bitter taste in his mouth?
Deon slowly touched the corner of his lips.
"To start..."
"Place your hand on this magic stone, and three seconds later a white light about the size of a fist will appear before your eyes. Just look at that and speak. When you want to end it, just place your hand on it again. Simple, right? For reference, Lirinel and I made this magic stone together. I've never actually used it, but it should work well."
"'I've never actually used it,' you say. Wasn't that what you used last time?"
"Back then I simply used my own magic directly. It consumed quite a lot of mana."
"......Understood, for now. Let's begin immediately."
He sat down at the desk.
The Demon King discreetly moved aside as if to say 'speak comfortably.' Left alone, Deon placed the magic stone before him, slowly closed his eyes, then opened them.
'.......'
Within the quiet silence, his eyes were downcast, unreadable. But it was only for a moment. Deon raised his gaze as if he had nothing in the world to feel guilty about and reached out to the magic stone.
A white light appeared a little distance from his face.
'Alright...'
Now then,
'Let's carve my name into history.'
It was time to become the worst human being without precedent.
* * *
Across the whole of the human world, sharpened to a razor's edge by war, a giant screen flickered into existence.
As if they'd already grown accustomed after experiencing it once, there was little confusion. The murmuring lasted only a moment. At the sight of a familiar face, people silently fixed their attention on the screen.
As if to prove it was the Demon Realm, with the three moons beyond the window as a backdrop, a black-clad man with white hair and red eyes stared straight ahead.
"......Deon Hart."
Even those who had never seen him in person knew the description of his appearance well. Someone murmured it like a groan.
Because it was the first time he'd shown his face since turning to the Demon King's side, attention gathered automatically.
Whether he knew or not that all of humanity was looking at him with hostile eyes, the man on the screen calmly opened his mouth.
- The Empire is selfish.
It was a statement so abrupt and blatant that even those with no interest doubted their ears and raised their heads.
- I suppose I should say the current Emperor of the Empire is selfish. When I heard news of the human world's alliance, I couldn't understand why humanity had rallied around the Empire. No, to be honest, I still don't understand.
The man on the screen tilted his head with naive curiosity, as if genuinely unable to comprehend it.
- Do you people lack the ability to learn?
It was truly infuriating behavior and speech.
Eyes that had held mild curiosity turned to anger and stuck viscerally to the screen. Even those who had been working with ears perked up now stopped what they were doing and raised their heads.
With this, their attention would be fixed on the screen until the speech ended.
'What does he mean to say, that he'd gather attention like this.'
In his office, seated before his desk with his body leaning loosely back in his chair, the Emperor stared silently at the screen. As if hoping every last person would watch, the screen had helpfully appeared inside this room as well.
- The Emperor of the Empire launched the Eight-Year War the moment he ascended the throne. Countless nations were brutally trampled beneath his feet without knowing why. And when it seemed barely over, only two short years passed before war broke out again.
......Ah.
He reached out and pulled a cord.
"......Summon the sorcerers. Tell them to prepare interference."
Alienation again. The Demon King must have already attempted it.
Still, he understood — there was nothing as effective as internal strife, after all.
Deon Hart on the screen continued speaking without the slightest hesitation.
- The end of the Eight-Year War was not a truce, it was a formal end to the war. It had only been two years since the declaration of the war's end, and already he overturned his word and started another war! Thanks to that, the Emperor's true intentions became unmistakably clear around then.
Continental conquest.
- It's so blatant, you couldn't possibly not know. And yet you still rally around him — how ridiculous I found it, watching. Is this not like a fish asking a cat for protection, like a lamb forming an alliance with a wolf?
Deon Hart thought.
I am not that smart. When I was young, Cruel... my brother praised me as clever, but that was only the affection and consideration of family. He knew that a head that was considered somewhat quick was at best slightly above average, and that he had even less talent for speaking.
He'd spent nearly his whole life shut inside the house, then rolled around battlefields the entire time. When would he ever have had the time to hold coherent, deep conversations with anyone?
'If only they'd transmitted just the voice instead of the image... Or if someone else had stood in my place.'
A weak thought reared its head.
But this position would yield no great effect unless he was the one in it, and the screen was also unavoidable in order to draw attention. Voice alone would make it hard to be certain who the speaker was, would also lessen the attention, and focusing on both screen and content would make it harder to find flaws in the words than focusing on the voice alone.
'Be confident.'
This was not a debate anyway. It was one-sided agitation.
It wasn't about persuading an opponent using logic as a weapon. It was about wielding emotion as a weapon to sway them.
There was no need to speak at length. Burst in suddenly, throw their minds into turmoil, and get out fast. Do it with an attitude that holds not a single fault in your words, hold your head high, and manage your expression.
"......Are the sorcerers not here yet?"
"I apologize, but the sorcerer says interference is difficult with their own abilities alone. They say the barrier is higher than last time...."
"......."
The Emperor silently pressed his fingers to his brow.
- My objective is the Empire. If you cling to the Empire, only two outcomes await you. You will either be trampled by the Demon King's army as it advances to strike the Empire, or you'll be devoured by the Empire after it safely repels the Demon Realm and pretends to behave.
Into a world submerged in silence, a single voice rang.
- In short, there is no benefit to clinging to the Empire.
That mouth had to be stopped.
But how?
'......There's no way.'
The Emperor lowered his eyes as if resigned. He was simply thinking about how to respond to the situation that was about to become somewhat troublesome ahead, when the screen floating in the air wavered and then was dyed black.
Was it over? It felt a little abrupt, but just as he thought that, the screen brightened and a man appeared.
It wasn't Deon Hart. A man of ordinary impression, crossing the boundary from boy to young man, stood with an unknown back-alley as his backdrop.
- In the end, it's still just the words of a betrayer who sided with the Demon King.
At the appearance of a completely unfamiliar face, the world buzzed as if trying to deduce his identity.
Only Deon Hart, who'd had the screen's control stolen from him, raised one eyebrow inside his room and focused on the man. It was definitely a face he'd seen somewhere before.
'......Ah, right. That day there was a verbal spar between the Demon King and the Emperor — the kid who was using it as teaching material.'
Ed hurriedly brought a new magic stone. Deon stared blankly at it as it was placed on the desk, then instead of reaching out, turned his eyes back to the screen.
The face there had a resolute expression, as though possessing convictions that were quite firm for his young age.
Until the day of the grand undertaking, Paul, leader of the Revolutionary Army, had to move in the shadows. But to protect the human world, he stood before the eyes of all for the first time. He could feel Iram's disapproving gaze from one side, but he paid it no mind.
- You, too, are giving a speech with the aim of creating division within the human world. How are you any different from the Demon King?
The moment Deon Hart appeared on the screen, Paul had issued urgent orders.
It would be best if the Emperor stepped forward to refute him, but he'd already summoned a capable sorcerer belonging to the Revolutionary Army beforehand in case that didn't happen. The obstacle to convincing them had been that this sorcerer had a history of placing curses — evil spirits, that is — with the goal of killing the Emperor.
"......Why should I have to use sorcery for that bastard Emperor...."
"Because the human world has to survive in order for us to carry out a revolution or anything else. Thank you for cooperating."
In the end, the persuasion had succeeded, so it was a good thing.
Iram silently soothed the sorcerer while watching Paul, who stood to one side. He was moving his lips, trying to turn back the hearts of those swayed by the agitation.
And then, as if he had no intention of quietly watching that, Deon Hart's screen flickered up beside Paul's.
- How am I different from the Demon King? That would be the fact that I am 'human.' Aren't you curious why I, a human, would go out of my way to turn my back on the human world and stand with the Demon Realm?
He paused speaking for a moment and gave a smirk.
But only for a moment. In a flash, all traces of laughter drained from his face. What occupied the empty space was nothing other than fierce hatred.
A voice as laced with sticky killing intent as his expression burst out, snarling.
- Because there was no place more suited for killing the Emperor!
The Emperor was a man with many enemies by nature.
So there was nothing new about it — but this time was different. The Emperor was branded fiercely into everyone's minds. And there was a thought that unconsciously, automatically rose.
He said his aim was to kill the Emperor. In that case, if we just kill the Emperor, is this matter resolved?
- Why do you think I've been mentioning the Emperor all this time? My grudge is limited to the Emperor. If it's truly difficult, you can just offer up the Emperor's head.
Deon forced the corners of his lips back up.
He deliberately didn't mention the greater source of his grudge, the Duke. In order to induce not only the alliance's division but also internal division within the Empire, the Noble Faction's voice needed to grow stronger. So he had aimed even the killing intent meant for the Duke entirely at the Emperor and shouted.
Since he had declared the Emperor the cause, those veteran politicians would gleefully seize this weapon that had fallen into their hands and drive the Emperor into a corner.
But Paul was not the sort to sit back and let the atmosphere swing over to that side. He had intervened in the screen today with great resolve. He couldn't possibly be defeated without even recovering his stakes, so he opened his mouth again.
- Ridiculous. We know that even if that happens, the Demon King's army won't stop its advance.
- Why do you think that? Did you not hear what I said earlier?
- That's 'your' story and your objective — not the 'Demon King's army's' story, is it?
- .......
- Your ulterior motive is obvious. After destroying the Empire as planned, you'd step back and try to play word games like, 'I said my objective was the Empire, I never said it was the Demon Realm's objective.' Then the Demon King's army would just gobble up the human world, which had become an easy prey. Isn't that right?
The Empire was the human world's sturdiest barrier against the Demon Realm.
The human world was a meal they couldn't eat because of this barrier. If the barrier collapsed, would the Demon Realm simply sit back and watch? They'd swallow it up as if they'd been waiting.
- Having already watched the verbal spar between the Demon King and the Emperor once before, we learned of the demons' fervent desire to harm, and realized their objective. And you thought that we, knowing this, would fall for that sort of artful tongue-wagging? There's a limit to how stupid you can think people are. Just how laughably do you see us?
- .......
- And in the first place, if you wanted to kill the Emperor, you should have just joined the Revolutionary Army. At least that's still a human faction, isn't it? The moment you went to the Demon Realm, you were already in the wrong.
Deon quietly swallowed an empty laugh that threatened to burst out.
'My objective is the Empire,' he'd said. It seemed that unconsciously, he'd been trying to cling to his last shred of conscience.
'Laughable. Since when did I ever have something like a conscience?'
He'd already abandoned being human during the Eight-Year War, and now he was trying to have a conscience?
His red eyes sank dully. Deon Hart grinned at the opponent beyond the screen. Instead of answering the criticism that had poured out about the Revolutionary Army or whatever, he provided an answer to the statement that had come before.
- What if the Demon Realm promises not to touch anything outside the Empire?