Chapter 83
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 83
“If I smash all your castles and wipe out your armies, you’ll get your horns and fangs pulled out too, right?”
The voice was sly, yet beneath it lay a threat laced with cold anger.
Once again, silence descended upon the hall.
Swallow looked around, his lips curled into a wide, amused grin. His attitude was incredibly flippant, as if he weren't observing Demon Kings, but monkeys in a circus.
“Why does it get so quiet in here every five seconds?” he added mockingly. “You all have great teamwork, just in the weirdest ways.”
Whether they were reading Yubar’s expression or were simply dumbfounded by the absurdity of the situation, the Demon Kings stood dazed for a long moment.
Soon, a Demon King with dark red horns on the opposite side of the hall snapped out of it and roared.
“What do you think you’re doing in the sacred halls of Judeca? You must have lost your mind! I don’t know which Demon King you serve, but this won’t end with just your death!”
“Oh no, I’m scared to death,” Swallow sneered.
Unable to contain his rage at the mocking reply, the Demon King roared, drew his sword, and charged.
An even darker energy gathered around the bizarrely shaped magic sword as black wings sprouted from the Demon King’s back. As if intending to put everything into his first strike, he soared forward at high speed, channeling a torrent of mana into his weapon.
Having devoured the mana, the magic sword turned a dark red, matching the color of its master’s horns. Concentrated power wavered along its sharp edge.
“I’ll cut you down in a single blow!”
But the strike never landed.
Intermediate Magic 〈Gravitational Field〉.
Thud!
The airborne Demon King, unable to withstand the sudden external pressure, slammed into the floor. Though he wasn’t seriously injured, the mana gathered in his blade dispersed helplessly into the air.
The other Demon Kings were speechless, bewildered by the sudden turn of events.
The one who had cast the spell was not Swallow, nor Rene, nor the monster beside them. It wasn't even Melju.
The one holding the staff, still glittering with the aftereffects of the magic, was Yubar—the very Demon King they all served.
“L-Lord Yubar, why…”
“…”
Only Yubar and Melju were seeing the situation for what it truly was.
While everyone else was distracted by Swallow and the charging Demon King, Yubar had seen it clearly: Rene Rellow had slipped one hand into her apron pocket.
She was preparing to counterattack. If Yubar hadn’t intervened, that maid would have undoubtedly decapitated the Demon King in a single, clean stroke—from a distance, without a single drop of blood touching Swallow.
Meaning, the Demon King’s full-power strike never stood a chance of reaching Swallow in the first place.
I heard the Primordial Core was completely devastated by the humans…
Far from devastated, they were perfectly intact.
One didn't even need to look at Swallow; the homunculus maid beside him was proof enough. Her black eyes, so similar to his, said it all. As he was now, Yubar wasn’t confident he could even land a critical wound on that maid, let alone defeat her.
If they weren't careful, every single Demon King in this room would be slaughtered.
“…What did you think you were doing in the presence of such a great being?” Yubar finally spoke, his voice trembling and unstable.
The other Demon Kings seemed to finally grasp the gravity of the situation, and the murmuring in the hall died down.
Yubar rose from his throne and descended the stairs. He dragged his body forward, unassisted, until he stood before Swallow, so close that the man had to look down to see him.
Finally reaching the floor where Melju was, Yubar bowed his head and prostrated himself.
“Lord Swallow.”
Swallow chuckled. “Yubar, right? Wow, to think that little kid grew this much.”
“Please forgive my rudeness… O Great One, if it is not an intrusion, may I dare ask what brings you here?”
“Well, I wonder.”
Yubar trembled. He felt as if a thousand years of accumulated dignity had been stripped away, reducing him to a decrepit, defeated soldier. At least, that was how he appeared to the other Demon Kings.
His mind was a tangled, dizzying mess. Every time he heard Swallow’s playful voice, memories he had crushed and hidden in the deepest recesses of his mind came rushing back.
That man is the incarnation of evil.
If what the Demon Kings pursued was petty evil, that ancient monster was true evil itself. He had worn that same smile here in Judeca, nine hundred years ago.
“Lord Yubar.”
Balzak, Yubar’s close aide, called out to him quietly and reached out a hand in a gesture of doubt. He had heard of Swallow, of course. But wasn’t Yubar also the Demon King of supreme evil? A being who wouldn’t hesitate to bare his fangs even at the Great Evil Caves? No matter how legendary this Swallow was, Balzak could not accept his lord humbling himself to this extent.
“Why would Lord Yubar…”
“Balzak. Kneel. Now.”
The voice was laced with a pressure that seemed to squeeze Balzak’s very heart.
He knelt without another word. The quick-witted ones followed, and soon the other Demon Kings knelt one by one, signaling their surrender.
“…I have heard the rumors that you recently punished the humans in the heart of Riaze.”
“Don’t be so tense,” Swallow said. “If you’re acting like this because of the past, you can relax. I didn’t come here to break anything in particular this time.”
He only stood up once everyone, save for Melju, was kneeling before him.
“I came with a specific purpose.”
He glanced at Melju.
Just then, the dog-like monster beside him ran over to Melju and licked her cheek. Melju hugged the creature, stroking it as she looked up at Swallow. She had a mountain of questions but chose the most crucial one.
“Lord Swallow, why are you here…?”
“I came to see you.”
It was a playful answer, but entirely sincere.
All the Demon Kings stared at Melju, dumbfounded. Marmolia, standing nearby, was several times more bewildered than the rest; she froze with her eyes wide and mouth agape, completely unable to process the scene.
Handling the rest was Rene’s job. As if on cue, she stepped forward from behind Swallow.
“Miss Melju.”
The usual smile was absent from Rene’s face, yet her voice wasn’t cold. A serious Rene was a sight Melju had never seen before.
“Lord Swallow and I gave this a lot of thought.” She curtsied slightly toward Melju. “In the end, the Primordial Core has decided that we need you.”
She extended her hand.
“Would you please join us as a member of the Primordial Core?”
“…Me?”
“You came here to rebuild your army, didn’t you?”
Startled that her true intentions had been laid bare, Melju soon nodded.
“If you accept our offer, you will become an administrator, managing the monsters of a single room. Naturally, we will place monsters in the room you manage, and all of them will become your new army.”
“I… a room administrator…”
“Yes. And everyone in the Primordial Core will work to recruit powerful monsters suited for you…”
“Count me out.”
“…Everyone except Lord Swallow will work hard to recruit monsters for you.”
“Well, that’s how it is,” Swallow said, concluding the conversation as he scanned everyone’s faces. Their expressions were a sight to behold. He wondered if he should just call this a gathering of fools.
“So please, help us out, Melju.”
Everyone flinched at the word “please.”
She was supposed to be an incompetent Demon King. A weak, useless being whose title they were about to strip away.
“What on earth happened…?” Yubar addressed Melju, his attitude now extremely polite.
Reading his expression, Swallow cut him off. “Ah, feeling left out because I’m only asking Melju? Want to work in our dungeon too? I could probably give you Room 3.”
“N-No… That is, please…”
“Just kidding.” Swallow let out a lazy yawn. “I didn’t really want to hire you anyway.” It seemed he couldn’t hide his fatigue after speaking so much more than usual. “Or are you unhappy that we’re taking Melju, the one you were about to expel? I do feel a bit bad about that.”
No one could answer. At this moment, they were not Demon Kings, but a weak, powerless crowd.
“But honestly, aren’t you all crazy? Why punish Melju for having her army wiped out? Or are you all so successful that her single loss drags down the prestige of every Demon King here?”
A long silence followed.
“…You are entirely correct. We were short-sighted,” Yubar said, speaking for all the Demon Kings as he bowed his head deeply. In a society ruled by might, logic held no meaning. To survive, they had no choice but to submit.
“Then, Miss Melju, please give us your answer,” Rene said, turning away from Yubar as if she were done with him.
Melju, who was tightly hugging the monster she had named Swald Dog, looked back and forth between Rene and Swallow, then parted her dry lips.
“I…”
“I won’t accept this.”
A harsh, grating voice rang out.
Swallow sat back down, washing his hands of the matter. Rene, Melju, and all the Demon Kings turned to look at Marmolia.
She was the one who had interrupted.
“I said I can’t accept this…!” Marmolia wailed. The beauty she had maintained for over a century was nowhere to be seen. Her face twisted in a hideous grimace, she slowly walked toward Swallow and Rene.
She looked hideous. Though no one said it aloud, everyone was thinking the same thing.
“She’s a loser! A stupid bitch who couldn’t even manage the monsters in her own castle! What is this! This… I cannot accept this! Lord Swallow, why do you protect a creature like that?! Why do you abandon us?! Why?!”
Why does it have to be Melju?
Marmolia scratched at her body with sharp fingernails. The invisible scars of old abuse itched beneath her skin. Since childhood, she had been compared to Melju, her peer. Abused for falling behind. She had resented Melju, and finally, she had managed to drag her rival into the abyss.
But why?
Unable to comprehend the situation, she couldn't even muster any strength. Marmolia crawled along the floor until Swallow was right in front of her.
Ah, if I reach out to Lord Swallow, maybe I can receive the same treatment as Melju. With that thought, she stretched out her hand.
The moment she did, slash. Four of her fingers were sliced off.
“Haha, ahahaha.”
Marmolia let out a hollow laugh.
Rene, who had lightly swung Guillotine’s Tooth, wiped the blade with a cloth as if even the blood on it was filthy.
Yubar, who had been watching, spoke. “…We will handle this.”
Hadn’t all the preparations already been made before Swallow arrived? Weren’t they already prepared to sever horns and pull fangs? The method of dealing with a sinner was simple.
Soon, a scream was ripped from her throat along with her fangs.
*
And so, the commotion came to an end.
The punishment was carried out immediately, in front of everyone. The sentence was the severing of horns and the pulling of fangs. The executioner, a three-eyed monster.
Everything remained the same. The only thing that had changed was the target.
In the sinner’s spot where Melju had been lying just moments ago, Marmolia now lay prostrate.
“Ah, haha, ahahahahaha…”
Marmolia laughed until the very moment before her punishment. Though her body trembled convulsively, madness spilled from her lips. When her laughter started to sound chillingly natural, everyone knew.
Marmolia had gone mad.
The hall remained silent throughout the execution. However, the eyes of several Demon Kings watching her were thick with anxiety. They knew. They knew that the greatsword swung by the executioner had been intentionally dulled under Marmolia’s secret orders. And they knew that no matter how hard he struck with such a blade, the horns would never be severed cleanly.
As the greatsword swung down toward her dark red horns—
“Gah, cough, aaah, aaaaaargh!”
Marmolia’s tearful screams echoed through the hall. The shackles binding her limbs rattled incessantly. Nevertheless, the punishment continued.
It took three more strikes before her horns finally shattered.
Unable to bear the intense pain, Marmolia foamed at the mouth and fainted. The sight of the executioner grabbing the unconscious Demon King’s jaw and pulling out her fangs was beyond wretched—it was downright chilling.
The floor was stained red with the blood leaking from her mouth.
Each step of the process was exaggerated, inflicting unnecessary pain. Each action was a desperate attempt by the Demon Kings to appease the wrath of Swallow and Melju.
“W-We will manage her thoroughly so that she can never act insolently again.”
Even after Marmolia was punished, the Demon Kings still trembled in fear.