294. The Demon Realm Archduke (3)
294. The Demon Realm Archduke (3)
- 1 -
Libertas, Eligos, Agares.
The three's fate meeting ended with a final clinking of their glasses.
But the meeting between the two Archdukes was not yet over.
After leaving Libertas's dungeon, the two met again at Eligos's mansion in the Demon Realm.
"Do you believe she can defeat Dantalion?"
At Eligos's question, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, Agares gave a merry laugh and bit off a piece of Siren meat.
The savory aroma bursting in his mouth and the screams freely spilling forth — both were his appetizers.
"Of course. I believe she can."
"Truly?"
"Truly and absolutely."
The crocodile-man's snout stretched into a long grin.
"So, are you saying I set a condition she couldn't overcome just to mock her?"
"..."
The Black Knight said nothing, but his meaning was clear. He was saying that was exactly the sort of thing you would do.
Agares burst into a snicker.
"Right. I am that sort, after all. Which is why I gave her a gift to cheer her on, wasn't it?"
At those words from Agares, Eligos recalled one of the 'collectibles' he had been keeping.
The body of a young hero from the past, beautiful with golden hair and green eyes.
"You mean the body of that old hero?"
"Mm. It was a good collectible, but it was starting to get boring."
He swayed his head lazily, squeezing Siren blood into a glass as he spoke.
"Whether she defeats that fellow or not, it's all the same to me."
Eligos completely understood what Agares meant as well.
If she won, both sides would surely be in a severely weakened state. And even if she didn't, it just meant one more noble who failed to become an Archduke would simply fall.
"Even if she were to defeat Dantalion, she would be in a rather weakened state. In that case, could we not handle her as we please?"
As expected, Agares said something remarkably similar to what he himself had been thinking.
Eligos twisted his thin lips into a disapproving expression.
"Hmph. I don't like that idea of yours... but if she's a woman strong enough to defeat that bastard, there'd be some use in raising her again as a rival."
"Ah, so you were interested in that angle after all."
Eligos lifted the glass before him.
Inside was a sticky red liquid with stark white chunks.
If one looked closely, one would find out what it was. But once one found out, it was the sort of content that would make one regret having found out.
Eligos, who had swallowed it down, nodded.
"It is only natural."
A sharp, curved line traced the corner of his mouth.
"Only strength. That is the existential value of the Demon Tribe."
"I suppose so."
Agares stretched his snout wide into a grin.
"For you are an existence that only desires that."
What lingered in the eyes of the two Archdukes as they looked at each other was clear 'contempt.'
- 2 -
"... That makes it the second time, then."
Evangeline, having recovered her body from her previous life, was calmer than expected.
She showed neither tears nor anger.
Was it because, as she said, this was not her first time?
"What do you wish to do?"
"I will handle it. More importantly..."
After placing the body into her own subspace pocket, she approached me from behind and began to stroke my hair.
As if that were more important.
"Their intentions were quite clear, Master."
"Yes. They were looking at me like something to devour."
After the small fate meeting ended, I sat in the bedchamber, waiting for Saya, contemplating one matter.
It was about the results of the envoy talks with the Western Continent Demon Realm Archduke, which I had heard from Mure.
How I should deliver this news to Saya, and if I did, what words I should use to comfort her.
It was a question that even I could not answer easily.
"It will be fine. Master."
Evangeline's gentle voice seeped into my ears.
"She is strong. Like me. She was strong even in just one life, and now it is her second. So it will be fine."
She whispered.
I kept my eyes closed and felt her touch and her voice.
No matter what was done, my poise would never be disturbed, so these actions were strictly unnecessary. Yet these rituals always felt pleasant.
Her gentle and delicate touch was every bit as exquisite as the swift and powerful sword strikes she wielded in battle.
"I know."
I raised a hand and clasped hers as I spoke.
"Of course I know. How could I not know your strength?"
They were the ones who had returned even after discarding everything of themselves. It wasn't that I lacked faith in them.
I turned my head slightly.
I could see Evangeline's eyes regarding me directly.
What filled those eyes was, chromatically speaking, something of a pink hue.
Seeing that, a sensation that had grown familiar to me over time began to rise up once more.
"Haa..."
Tok-tok.
Just as I could no longer hold back and was meeting her eyes and lips, a knock sounded.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Saya entered with quiet steps.
Her black hair shone bluish in the moonlight, and her pink-hued eyes were filled with anticipation and unease.
"May it be a good time."
Evangeline patted her on the shoulder as she left.
A hint of regret seeped from the green eyes watching me, but this time tonight was Saya's.
"Come here, Saya."
She quietly approached and, as always, knelt before me.
I too, as always, placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke.
"Come sit beside me."
Saya rose from her spot with a tender expression and sat beside me.
Unlike her self-assured actions, her gaze moved constantly, laden with shyness, which made her all the more adorable.
I placed my hand on her waist and whispered.
"I have found news of the survivors of your clan, the Cheoneungcheongu."
"Truly?"
The bashfulness receded from Saya's eyes like an ebbing tide.
I nodded slowly.
"Fortunately, it seems there are a few survivors in Gaap's territory. It appears that point hasn't changed."
A smile slowly spread across Saya's face.
The fact that survivors of her clan would be under his influence was something she would have already known from the first round.
Though they were not of the direct line, to Saya, they would be existences that evoked nostalgia.
But the next moment, her smile began to fade.
It was after she heard Gaap's condition.
"You need not entertain such conditions, Master. Knowing merely that they are alive is enough for me."
Saya held my hand and spoke earnestly.
Then she whispered.
"All I need is what you have promised me."
Her face flushed a peach-pink hue.
What I had promised her was precisely that — the promise I had made to 'create a clan for her.'
A clan mixed with both our blood.
At the time, I'd gotten a bit carried away by the atmosphere when I said it, so hearing it again brought a touch of embarrassment.
Of course, that feeling could not restrain my next action.
"... Master..."
After a deep exchange of saliva and breath,
I stroked the head of Saya, who called out to me with dazed eyes.
"Of course, a clan of you and I is the most important thing. But in that home, wouldn't it also be another happiness to see your old servants smiling joyfully upon our descendants?"
"But those conditions are..."
I nodded and cut her off.
"Naturally, I have no intention of granting their conditions. Happiness gained in that manner would be happiness that forms a rotten fruit."
I patted her back, sliding my hand down from her hair.
"Our happiness must be complete. For the sake of you who discarded everything once."
"That's not it."
Saya shook her head, then looked at me with clear eyes and spoke.
"I — we — have never discarded everything. Because we came to find you, Master. You are indeed our... everything."
Those commendable words, spoken while her face grew even redder.
However, it seemed she herself was too embarrassed, for she quickly changed the subject.
"If you... if you have found my clan, then you must have found Yuran's clan as well. Master."
"Of course. They are said to be under Andras's command. Though some are also with Gaap."
"That is a puzzling matter. How could...?"
It was not common for a monster clan to split in two.
Not unless they had been forcibly divided centuries ago, like the Monstrous Celestial Fox clan on the surface and the Lux clan of the Demon Realm.
And yet, for the Monstrous Celestial Fox clan, which had already been split once, to be divided into two again.
Saya's curiosity was only natural.
"It seems that, as with Yuran's case, the persecution of collateral branches was severe. In the end, some rebels arose and apparently went to Gaap."
"That will be welcome news for Yuran."
I nodded in agreement.
The grudge Yuran held toward the main house was considerable. As the saying goes, the enemy of one's enemy can be an ally; depending on the circumstances, the rebels against the main house could become a resource we could draw to our side.
The only problem was.
"The fact that they've put forward the same conditions is an issue, though."
"Ah..."
"I find it amusing. That both the place where only ones to be killed gather and the place where only ones to be brought home gather would make the same proposal."
At my words, spoken with a chuckle, Saya's expression gradually shifted from dismay to hostility.
"They are truly doing something outrageous. Without even knowing what they are doing."
"Is it not the arrogance of those who have lived for over hundreds of years, thinking it acceptable to incur grudges?"
Watching me trail off with 'But...,' Saya's expression gradually relaxed.
It was because she was looking at the smile on my lips.
"The citadels of the arrogant are always destined to collapse through a single rat-hole."
She immediately gave her answer.
"For you, Master, I will bring them down. Even if I must become the rat that enters through that rat-hole."
"Thank you, Saya."
I met her eyes, laced my fingers once more with hers, and stroked Saya's back as she soon nestled into my arms.
"I will heal your past, so please share my future with me."
Saya's pink-hued eyes sparkled. She buried herself deeper into my embrace and whispered.
"I shall do so for eternity. Master."
- 3 -
After meeting with Libertas and receiving the envoys, the Demon Realm Archdukes who had returned to their respective territories continued their own thoughts.
"Libertas, was it."
Andras was stirring a potion in a large cauldron inside his palace.
"The Gluttony Duke's daughter... and the youngest who grew best among them, at that. How intriguing."
Moreover, it wasn't just her lineage that was exceptional.
Anyone with the foresight to house a Demon Realm noble as a retainer clearly would have established a personal network exceeding all expectations.
"A woman like that... it would be fine to make her my third wife."
Andras wore a lascivious smile on a face beautiful enough to appear feminine.
But then, suddenly, his brow furrowed. He had sensed a presence outside the door.
"Enter."
"My Lord. Marquis Cheon has arrived."
At the words spoken by a vampire who approached and knelt, Andras answered with an elegant tilt of his chin.
"He's here. Show him in."
Deolkeok!
The door soon opened, and a man in splendid attire entered.
A beautiful man with golden hair grown to his ankles and red eyes.
If any females had been present, they would have been intoxicated by the sight of two such beautiful men, so striking was his appearance.
However, while Andras was androgynous, he possessed more masculine lines.
"Your Highness."
He approached and inclined his head and waist slightly, just enough not to breach etiquette.
"I have come at your summons."
"Welcome. Cheon. My dear friend."
At Andras's gesture, Hocheon, head of the Monstrous Celestial Fox house, approached with slow steps and sat across from his table.
Andras too used magic to keep the ladle stirring on its own, then came forward and sat before him.
"Marquis Hocheon. I have something to ask you."
"Command me."
"Does your house, by any chance, have members outside of those rebels with Gaap? Additional members?"
Hocheon's face stiffened. It was a discourteous question to ask, even coming from one's liege lord.
"I shall trust that this question was not asked to shame me."
"Of course. It is only natural."
"..."
He fell into thought for a moment, then soon nodded.
"There are many cases where mongrels slip away out of the house; if thoroughly searched, there would be quite a few. But why do you ask?"
Watching Hocheon, who even now deferred a definitive answer, Andras narrowed his eyes.
"I recently happened to meet a dungeon lord who keeps a Monstrous Celestial Fox. The lord's envoy spoke of wanting to find family for her."
"Family..."
Hocheon, who had been thinking briefly, let out a scoff and shook his head.
"It will be mongrel blood anyway. If they are ones who fled the house. Those under the Duke of Hatred are also such mongrels."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
At his resolute affirmation, Andras, who had been staring at him for a moment, slowly raised his chin.
"Understood. You may withdraw."
After giving a bow befitting the proper etiquette, Hocheon retreated from the spot, walking backward.
Andras, who had been watching the crown of his head, placed his hand on his chin and muttered in displeasure.
"He's hiding something..."
His violet eyes were being engulfed by a cruel impulse.
◆
At the bottom of the deep sea, in Gaap's golden palace, discussions were also taking place.
"So, what would you have me do?"
Naberius, Gaap's adjutant and a marquis, asked.
He was a man with long black hair, currently stripped of his upper garment, revealing his muscular upper body and the other distinct entities residing on his shoulders.
Gaap, with an arm draped over his shoulders and also in a state of near-half-nudity, spoke.
"What do you mean, do? We have to make their weaknesses even stronger."
At her gesture, a golden map rose before them.
It was a map depicting the center of the Eastern Continent.
"A new junior is about to leap up, so as a senior, I simply must go out to greet her, mustn't I?"
Giggling, Gaap's eyes shone with sadistic light.
"What shall be done with the survivors of the Cheongu clan?"
"We must make them more valuable bargaining chips."
Stroking the raven-head on Naberius's left shoulder, Gaap zoomed in on the center of the map.
"I'll have to make them more special."
"In what way?"
"I'll need to give them a bit of work. Make them stronger, possess more special powers. Then wouldn't the junior grow more anxious? Finding her subordinate's family is just a bonus; in reality, she's looking for combat power to leap even higher."
Resting her hand on Naberius's jaw, Gaap murmured as she stole across his lips.
"Only then will she swallow it, even knowing it's poison."
Without even realizing that she herself was laboring under a misconception.