Chapter 88
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 88
“They are the hostages for this negotiation. Try anything funny, or let these talks fail, and my Demon King's army, currently on standby, will wipe you out immediately.”
“Cut the chatter and get to the point.”
“Assassinate a Demon King.”
“……”
“There is a Demon King who must be killed.”
“You want us to fight a Demon King's army? Should I take that to mean you want us to volunteer as scapegoats for some new weapon or tactical formation?”
“No. She lost her entire army. She's wandering around all by herself. You only need to kill that bitch.”
“By herself?”
“Yes! I'm not asking you to take on some powerful Demon King. There's a bitch named Melju who once had her Demon King Castle in Riaze. All you have to do is kill her—that bitch!”
Marmolia's voice grew louder, though she didn't seem to realize it.
Given the circumstances, he didn't even need to ask why she was making such a request. Her complete loss of composure confirmed it.
Personal feelings. Blind hatred.
Profit and loss had nothing to do with it; the Demon King before him had initiated this negotiation purely out of selfish desire.
While Marmolia babbled on, venting her fury, Ar narrowed his eyes and scanned the Demon King.
Broken horns. Fangs that looked freshly regrown, as if they'd been ripped out not long ago. Her wretched state was that of a defeated soldier.
Had there been a clash between Demon King factions?
‘You’ve committed a cardinal sin of negotiation.’
Emotional beings were easily swayed. Nothing was easier to manipulate.
After mocking the Demon King inwardly, Ar focused on Marmolia's words once more. Her voice, which had faded into the background, gradually sharpened into focus.
“……Before long, that Demon King will leave Knecht. Once she leaves, she'll disappear to a place we can't pursue her, so we don't have much time. If you're going to eliminate her, it has to be in Knecht.”
“……”
“I'll pay you handsomely. Didn't those robed bastards ask for monsters to use in their biological experiments last time? If so……”
“I decline.”
Ar cut her off flatly.
“……Huh?”
A strangled, disbelieving sound escaped Marmolia's lips.
Looking utterly dumbfounded, she frowned and leaned forward, bracing her hands on the desk—a gesture no different from that of the humans she so despised.
“……You won't make the deal? Are you kidding me? What's the problem? Is the reward not to your liking?”
“That is not it.”
“Then what is it? You lowly human! The director himself came all this way. That means you must want something too, doesn't it?”
“Is that so?”
Ar tilted his head slightly, a faint smile playing on his lips as he thought:
‘You're wrong.’
He hadn't come here to gain anything. He had come to ensure he lost nothing.
In the future, countless incidents would erupt simultaneously, and all of them would begin with him. Ar refused to allow any variables to disrupt their progression.
The fact that a proud Demon King, with whom they had never had any real interaction, had requested negotiations meant one of two things: it was either a trap, or something truly serious was happening.
Either way, it could interfere with his plans. That was all that mattered.
“Aren't you the one who's in a hurry?”
“Human, are you playing with me right now?”
His voice was so calm it was unnerving, and Marmolia reacted with predictable fury, threatening him.
Ar didn't even bat an eye.
“Aren't you the one playing games? What are you hiding?”
Slightly taken aback by his completely unfazed attitude, Marmolia reined in her demonic energy.
“The Demon King Melju, the one you want eliminated. She has a backer, doesn't she?”
She kept trying to deflect, but wasn't the core issue simply that she lacked the strength to eliminate this Demon King herself?
Although he had feigned ignorance, there was no way he didn't know about the Demon King near Riaze.
Melju de Limp Agrea.
The 'daughter of a Demon King,' she ascended the throne after Bern defeated the previous ruler but before he could clear out the rest of the Demon King Castle.
An incomplete Demon King, and one without an army? That meant she was incredibly weak for her title.
Why, then, was Marmolia unable to kill such a weakling?
Whether she needed to keep her own hands clean or there was some undisclosed danger surrounding Melju, there had to be a reason.
“You seem to have misjudged who holds the leverage here. Since you've laced this negotiation with lies, the deal is off. I suggest you solve your own problems.”
Ar stood and picked up his white uniform jacket. Marmolia's face openly showed her panic. She tried to school her features into a neutral mask, but it was too late.
“W-Wait.”
Marmolia reached out, stopping Ar as he pretended to leave.
“……Just as you said. There is a backer.”
“Who is it?”
Ar and Marmolia’s eyes met. Marmolia swallowed hard without realizing it. If she lied again, the negotiation would be over for good. After a brief hesitation, she confessed the truth.
“A Great Evil Cave.”
“I have no time for unprofitable mind games. I didn't come here to play twenty questions.”
Marmolia's eyes glared fiercely at Ar. It was a look born not of threat, but of the shame of her own humiliation.
And though Marmolia failed to notice, Ar's voice had also sharpened at the mention of a Great Evil Cave.
“……Swallow is by Melju's side.”
Marmolia replied.
At those words, Ar's thoughts ground to a halt.
Swallow.
She had said Swallow.
“Well, this is……”
For a moment, he lost his composure and let out a hollow laugh.
Coincidence? A twist of fate?
Or was it destiny?
After a long moment, his frozen expression finally shifted. The cold, complex calculations gave way to a slow-blooming sense of ease. He was accepting the situation.
“Very well.”
Ar replied, his expression bright. The smile he wore now wasn't a mask to hide his feelings. It was a smile of pure, naked desire—the kind one can only wear when their wants are about to be satisfied.
“We will take care of Melju de Limp Agrea for you,” Ar said.
This time, it was Marmolia's face that froze.
In all of Marmolia's memory, she had never seen a human smile upon hearing the name Swallow.
‘No, not just humans. I've never seen any living creature react that way.’
It was a sight she had never witnessed before.
Above all, Ar knew Melju's full name, which Marmolia hadn't even mentioned.
It meant he already had a grasp of the situation. It also meant he had been testing her this entire time. She had assumed that as the head of an organization conducting biological experiments, he would be capable enough to handle an assassination. But this... this went far beyond mere capability.
Something was wrong.
“Did you say she'll be leaving Knecht soon? We must hurry, then.”
“I don't know what you're planning, but you'd better cut the crap. You know very well that there are four hundred hostages in Rosoid.”
“I've already agreed to your terms. I don't see why you keep bringing up the hostages.”
Ar added, his eyes narrowing.
“And if you're going to kill them, then go ahead. To die at the hands of a Demon King for the sake of the Empire's revival is a glorious martyrdom. Is that not a more honorable death than farming a tiny plot of land your entire life only to die of old age? I'm sure they would die happy. They are, after all, citizens who exist for the Empire.”
With his next words, Marmolia's suspicions solidified completely.
“Now, let's discuss the reward. You said you would provide test subjects, did you not? ……As it happens, there is an excellent specimen right in front of me: a Demon King.”
This human was insane.
To smile while spouting such madness… he had to be completely out of his mind.
“Then, I shall take the reward first.”
It was no longer a matter of whether the negotiation would succeed or fail. The human was dead serious. In a negotiation between a human and a Demon King, the human was trying to kill the Demon King.
Not the Demon King killing the human.
But the exact opposite.
“Ha, ahahaha!”
Having fully grasped the situation, Marmolia burst into a laugh laced with madness. She immediately reached out and activated the high-level magic she had prepared for emergencies.
‘Every single one of them... looking down on me……’
“Don't make me laugh!”
With Marmolia's roar, the Demon King's army that had been surrounding them from ten meters out rushed in all at once.
Magic erupted instantly. The ground glowed as flames bloomed in all directions. Yet, Ar smiled calmly. Countless protective spells enveloped him, more than enough to maintain his serene expression.
His protective barriers shattered several times against a single high-level spell, but new ones formed just as quickly to take their place.
Marmolia instantly conjured a piercing spell to impale Ar's throat, but she couldn't fire it. Two figures in the same white uniforms as Ar appeared from nowhere, already standing directly in front of her.
Clang!
With an ear-splitting screech of metal, a clash erupted right before her eyes. It was the sound of a Lycanthrope, which had instantly appeared at her side, clashing swords with one of the white-uniformed humans.
“My Lord, you must escape……!”
The hidden detachment protecting Ar and the vast Demon King's army seemed evenly matched.
Ar stood smiling in front of Marmolia without lifting a finger.
As if telling her to watch.
As if the battle was already over.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!!’
Resentment bleached Marmolia's mind blank. The battle, which had seemed evenly matched at first glance, was slowly but surely tilting in the humans' favor. The reason was simple: not a single human scream had been heard since the battle began.
They were strong. Ridiculously strong. It was obvious from the way sword energy, not just physical strikes, tore through the air. Every single scream echoing through the area belonged to the Demon King's army.
She heard the sound of the Lycanthrope's thick hide tearing after exchanging a few blows. Then came the sound of its head being severed by another white-uniformed human joining the fray. Monsters were slaughtered one after another. Magic exploded and ran wild. A stray magic arrow narrowly grazed past Marmolia.
A-rank, at least? No... every single one of them possessed skills on par with an A-rank Subjugation Squad Captain…
‘I have to run.’
Taking advantage of the chaos, Marmolia began to cast teleportation magic. If she died here, she would never get her revenge. She had to retreat while her subordinates bought her time.
But as she cast the spell, Marmolia realized something.
The magic wasn't activating.
The flow had been disrupted. Someone's interference had canceled the spell during the coordinate-setting process.
‘What……?’
To interfere with the complex calculations of a teleportation spell and cancel it required a skill level equal to or greater than the caster's.
That meant they would need Demon King-level mana to cancel her teleportation. Because of this, Marmolia had never once had her teleportation magic canceled in her entire life.
“Who on earth……”
Standing before Marmolia was a pink-haired woman.
It was Garot Azaneljia, a one-armed woman who should have been at an absolute disadvantage when casting magic.
“Where do you think you're going?”
Not only had she canceled the teleportation, but magical cords were now erupting from the ground beneath Marmolia's feet, binding her from all sides.
“Humannnn!! How dare youuuu!!”
With that final, rage-filled scream, three humans in white rushed her at once.
* * *
“I can only thank you for providing such an excellent test subject. As expected, she is incomparable to other monsters—truly magnificent. This is our first time experimenting on a living organism with such immense mana, so we've poured our heart and soul into it.”
“I merely do what is necessary for the Empire.”
“Even so, I didn't expect you to deliver her in such a pristine condition.”
At the researcher's words, Ar glanced into the giant glass tube.
His gaze fell upon Marmolia, submerged in an unidentifiable liquid.
“Isn't she beautiful?” the man from the Third Eye said.
Beautiful, indeed.
Her appearance was utterly hideous.
Her limbs had been severed, with new body parts crudely attached at the joints, exposing bone and muscle. Her body lacked any symmetry. Large and small thorns covered her skin, reminiscent of a lamprey and evoking pure disgust.
“She is beautiful.”
Yet, he continued with a calm smile.
“We will use her as a benchmark to gauge the current state of alchemy. I hope you can show me the culmination of your research so far.”
“We are doing our best, just as you said. However, a hastily assembled body like this won't last more than two days before it collapses.”
“Two days is plenty.”
“……Above all, the process of suppressing her ego is unstable. It's questionable whether we can control her once the shackles are released. I'm not sure this is wise.”
“That doesn't matter either.”
“In that case, I am confident that no matter where you deploy her, she will prove useful.”
……No matter where she is deployed, huh.
Ar smiled faintly, out of the man's sight.
Her destination was already set. Melju de Limp Agrea—the very target Marmolia had wanted eliminated.
And Swallow, who was said to be by her side.
Both of them were in Knecht.