272. Advance into Kishuker
272. Advance into Kishuker
- 1 -
In the past, while Libertas was stabilizing the kingdom of Hysen.
The palace of the Gluttony Duke of the Demon Realm.
An unfamiliar guest visited the great hall at the heart of the Gluttony Duchy—not Pandemonium, the domain of the Demon King.
The master of the northern Demon Realm on the surface, the Archduke of Secrets.
It was Dantalion.
Ttubbeok.
Dantalion, in the form of a boy wearing a silver mask, crossed the vast hall.
With each step, a silver ripple spread, and the surrounding space subtly distorted.
The power of the Archduke of the Demon Realm seized control of the space around him.
The massive doors of the grand banquet hall, crafted from black marble and gold, opened of their own accord, revealing the dazzling sight within.
On the ceiling hung a chandelier more splendid than the one in the Demon King's Castle, and upon the walls, sculptures of all manner of demonic beasts, embossed in pure gold, gleamed brightly.
"One whom I did not expect to see in this place has come."
And in the center, at the end of a long, outstretched table, a man sat.
He was a tall, gaunt youth—the Gluttony Duke, Baalzebub.
Black hair, pale skin, and violet eyes.
He resembled Libertas, but the possessiveness that dwelled in his face was far more blatantly and twistedly apparent.
"I have come to seek the Gluttony Duke on a matter of business."
Dantalion inclined his waist just enough not to transgress against etiquette.
"It concerns the Dungeon Lord, Libertas."
"Is it a matter of such gravity that you would come in person?"
The Gluttony Duke tilted his head slightly, resting his chin on his hand and crossing his legs.
It was the dignity and arrogance befitting a high-ranking noble of the Demon Realm and a powerful being at the monarch level.
"She is currently the fastest-growing Dungeon Lord on the surface."
Beneath the mask, Dantalion's small lips moved.
Seated opposite the Gluttony Duke, he leaned forward, hands placed upon his knees.
"Yet, strangely, even when I incline my ear to the human world, the location of that dungeon remains unknown. Does Your Grace have a grasp of her whereabouts?"
At Dantalion's words, the corner of the Gluttony Duke's mouth curled upward.
"Indeed. So you've figured it out and come."
The Secret Duke nodded his head.
"I could not help but know, for the resemblance is far too great."
Aside from the fact that the dungeon where Libertas resided lay somewhere in or near Hysen, nothing of its location was known. Her appearance, on the other hand, was famous.
Because she had concluded a pledge ceremony with the daughter of the Baritra Marquis Household, a subordinate of the Wrath Duke, there were already more than enough people who had laid eyes on her appearance.
It was not particularly difficult for Dantalion to obtain that report.
"That child is indeed my child."
The Gluttony Duke readily admitted it, and pointed a finger at the empty air.
A map of the eastern continent of the surface materialized there, its center expanding to illuminate the Grakheisen region, currently packed tightly with four nations.
"As you can see, she is rapidly growing in this central region of the eastern continent. She is becoming a special existence even among the Dungeon Lords of the surface."
As the Gluttony Duke moved his hand, a violet light spread across the map.
It touched portions of Hysen and Kiza, the greater part of Orbis, and even reached a part of Leophere.
It was merely an estimate and therefore imprecise, but the range largely coincided with Libertas's sphere of influence.
The range within which Libertas's mana exerted its influence.
In other words, the range she could transform into a demonic realm if she unleashed her full power.
"How far her power will extend... that is my chief interest of late."
Behind Dantalion's mask, his eyes narrowed.
"She could become a being who poses a danger to me. It seems Your Grace also sees it that way."
"Yes. A new candidate for the succession of the Demon King... She would be exceedingly dangerous for the likes of you."
Shifting his posture with a leisurely smile, the Gluttony Duke sat back.
"I understand there will be no further intervention."
"What a strange thing to say."
The Gluttony Duke let out a short chuckle.
"Since when did a Duke of the Demon Realm meddle in the affairs of the surface?"
It was indeed as he said.
The Dukes of the Demon Realm did not 'officially' involve themselves in the affairs of the surface.
For there was a strict command from the Demon King forbidding active interference in the matter of choosing the successor.
But those words also meant, conversely, that they were 'indirectly' involved to whatever extent they pleased.
'Just as I thought.'
The Gluttony Duke showed no intention of providing information beyond that.
And furthermore, it was equally certain that he had no intention of aiding Libertas.
Dantalion's eyes gleamed as he bowed his waist.
For it was precisely confirmation of that very fact that he had needed.
If it was a personage of the Gluttony Duke's standing, he had to confirm it personally.
"Let us meet again on more pleasant business next time."
"Very well."
Thus, the covert meeting between the Secret Duke and the Gluttony Duke concluded.
'I shall commence intelligence operations and attack. I will have to deploy Wepar.'
To Dantalion, it gave certainty for the assault on Libertas.
'Once this matter is finished, I must grant her a greater reward.'
To the Gluttony Duke, it gave the satisfaction that even the Archduke of the Surface Demon Realm sought to keep his daughter in check.
- 2 -
The capital of the minor kingdom of Kiza, Kishuker, once a center of trade utilizing the Central North Ocean, was ablaze.
It was the fourth day since the army of Hiscliff, Commander of the General Knights, had breached the city's eastern gate.
As the former expeditionary force advanced upon the royal castle occupied by the rebels and the rebels fiercely counterattacked, the city was gradually reduced to ruins.
Not a single commoner's house was left intact, and even the mansions of the nobles could not escape the flames of war.
"Aah..."
The streets were filled with blood and ash.
Groans leaked from the rubble of collapsed buildings, and the odor of rotting corpses and burning hung over the city.
- Mamaa!!
- It hurrts...
The cries of children that rang out from every quarter made the reality of the harrowing battlefield all the more vivid.
Children who had lost their parents wandered the streets wailing, while the dead leaned against walls, staring at the sky with unfocused eyes.
"Please... just a sip of water..."
A fallen elder at the roadside begged for water with parched lips.
His hand still clutched the hand of an old woman who had already breathed her last.
Their war had gone so far as to sever this affectionate old couple apart.
The marketplace of the commercial city that had once boasted prosperity had been reduced to an ash heap.
Looters roamed among the burned-out shops.
Neither the rebels nor the expeditionary force spared a thought to stop them.
"Your Excellency! The rebels have once again fortified a defensive line within the civilian quarter!"
At his adjutant's report, Hiscliff ground his teeth.
Clayvan's rebels had taken civilians as shields and resisted.
The streets of the capital had been fortified into a labyrinth, entire.
This was why, even though Hiscliff's force overwhelmingly outnumbered them, it was so difficult to push forward.
A flock of crows cawed raucously atop a mound of collapsed masonry.
The chariot wheel of war was grinding everything in the city to dust.
"Tighten the encirclement further. We must block their escape routes and all means of procuring provisions."
If even their last supply line were severed, the rebels would have no choice but to surrender.
But in that process, the city—and the innocent citizens within it—were nearing utter destruction.
Corpses accumulated in the streets.
Soldiers cut down by each other's attacks, citizens crushed by collapsing buildings, elders and children—and sometimes even nobles—caught in the crossfire between the two sides.
Death did not discriminate by age or status.
"Water! Bring us water!"
Refugees whose warehouses had burned and who now lacked food cried out in desperation.
Citizens who attempted to flee the city were seized by the rebels, who then used them as hostages to halt Hiscliff's attacks.
"Mother... Father..."
A young girl wandered through the ashes.
The hem of her skirt was stained with blood, and tears and soot mixed upon both cheeks as they streamed down.
The voice of a child searching for her mother amid the flames rang out with pitiable sorrow.
The silence within that despairing clamor was rent by the great shout of a single soldier.
"They are attacking!"
Hiscliff turned his head toward the voice, and his face twisted in fury.
The rebels were advancing once again, using civilians as shields.
Citizens consumed by terror were being driven forward, prodded on by the rebels' blades.
"It hurts...!"
"Please spare us...!!"
Among them could even be seen children suspended from the sides of horses.
It was the madness of the former royal family, who regarded their subjects as nothing more than expendable materials, laid bare.
"I cannot give in. If we cannot drive them from this place, this madness will continue..."
Before his grimly determined words were fully out, a massive explosion rang out.
The rebels' mages hurled flame spells that shattered a building. Hot debris poured down from the sky like rain.
Kishuker was already hell.
The river that crossed the city was already dyed crimson with corpses and blood.
Charred trees drifted along the riverbank, and through them could be heard the weeping of families searching for intact bodies.
"Damned..."
In the royal castle where the banners of the former royal house still fluttered, Clayvan was watching Hiscliff's assault.
"The reinforcements have all disappeared somewhere. Your Majesty. If this continues, at this rate..."
"It matters not. We shall defend this capital with our own power. Kishuker, Kiza, are mine...!"
Yulian's despair-laden voice from beside him did not reach his ears.
Madness simmered in his eyes.
Obsessed only with reclaiming the throne, he was utterly indifferent even to the city's doom.
"Forming that expeditionary force was a mistake. A grave mistake...!"
Hiscliff ground his teeth.
To deal with the rebels who had seized control of the capital, he had no choice but to destroy the city.
But if he did so, everything he had sought to protect would collapse along with it.
Whenever the wind gusted, the stench of rotting corpses shuddered through the air.
Concerns spread that plague would break out, but there was no capacity even to clear away the bodies.
Everyone was solely desperate to survive.
"Commander of the General Knights!"
It was then.
"An army is approaching from the east! It is an army of unknown affiliation!"
The urgent cry of the adjutant rang out.
Hiscliff climbed the rampart and raised his telescope to look.
There, he saw an army advancing, a black banner at its head.
The emblem drawn upon the banner was a black dragon wrapped in purple daffodils.
It was the army of the new Hysen.
- 3 -
"Lord Chancellor. Rumors are rampant that the army of Hysen has arrived. At present, within the city, both the rebels and the expeditionary force are merely maintaining their standoff, with all eyes fixed on the movements of Hysen."
The mansion on the outskirts of Kishuker where the chancellor was detained.
As the voice of the aged servant Lawrence resounded respectfully, Aiden Cromwell nodded calmly, as though he had already known.
"Let us go out."
The warnings of Marcus and Hiscliff no longer held meaning.
With his servant's assistance, Cromwell walked out of the mansion with dignity and ascended the rampart above the eastern gate.
Against the eastern sky, now stained crimson with the setting sun, black banners fluttered beyond the capital's eastern gate.
"At last, this moment has come."
Relief was mingled in his low voice.
It was the moment he had been waiting for.
A black dragon wrapped in purple daffodils.
An army that held high, far and wide, banners embroidered with the crest of the new Hysen came into his view.
Knights clad in black armor led the van, and behind them followed a fully armed infantry corps.
"An army of twenty thousand, led by an elite knight order. This is sufficient and more than enough."
The confirmed scale of the military force was twenty thousand.
The army of Hysen was larger in scale than had been expected.
That surely meant their resolve for the stabilization of Kiza was strong.
Having dispatched a force of thirty thousand to the north, yet still sending so many troops here, it meant the home country was nearly empty, but...
'But there must be some scheme for them to have mobilized such numbers...'
It was also possible to surmise that Countess Elskopf had revealed a vulnerability in the army's movements.
However, Cromwell shook his head at that possibility.
She was a woman who, from where she sat, had peered into the internal situation of the minor kingdom of Kiza as if reading the lines on her own palm.
There was no way such a woman would make such an elementary mistake.
"Lawrence."
Aiden turned to look at his aged servant.
Now, no trace of fatigue was visible on his expression.
A face full of passion and will gave the impression that he had, in an instant, de-aged by a full ten years.
"Contact the officials and have them prepare the official documents. I, as Chancellor of the minor kingdom of Kiza, shall officially request Hysen's mediation."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
As Lawrence withdrew, Cromwell gazed out at the crimson sunset glow.
Before his eyes, the army of Hysen was advancing.
Evangeline, her blue cloak trailing behind her, spurred her horse at the vanguard of the army.
'Kiza, too, can become a master of this age.'
A smile bloomed at the Chancellor's lips.
A smile that never once doubted that he himself would become one of the leading figures of that era.