Chapter 154
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: Empress
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"Hmm..."
I stared down at the crystal orb that had suddenly gone silent after receiving a message from Rene, as if it had just contacted her out of nowhere.
"What's wrong, Master?"
A woman with white hair and a languid voice appeared behind me and spoke.
Instead of answering, I furrowed my brow and growled at her.
"Mimic. Drop that form."
"...Tch."
The mimic, who had taken on Erzsebet's appearance, wriggled before reverting to its original black slime state. I gave the mimic a casual smack, then showed it the message.
[Master. In the forest right now, a mysterious woman is looking for Erzsebet...]
"What do you think?"
"A message... from... that... high elf?"
Rene rarely contacted me first. Even then, it was only for crucial information, like when the demonkin were hunting dryads this time, or details about the auction last time.
And even that, she thought sending just a message was rude, so she usually spoke directly through the crystal orb...
'She sent a message and then the connection cut off. This...'
A wave of unease washed over me. I glanced at Lil, who was working hard in the distance to restore the burned trees, then summoned Phantom—who'd been idle lately—and ordered him to arm the demonkin.
"Arm... you mean? Understood."
Phantom eyed me curiously, wondering why I was preparing for battle without any scout reports, but he faithfully carried out the order and went to ready the demonkin.
'By the way... someone looking for Erzsebet?'
Erzsebet had headed east, returned with a strange appearance, and passed out. Could the 'mysterious woman' Rene urgently messaged about be connected to her?
And if it's a woman...
'The Empress?'
One possibility came to mind. Maybe the being searching for Erzsebet had come all the way south... the Empress herself?
'...No way.'
The Empress was the master of the 'Demonic Realm' in the east. Dungeon masters treated their dungeon cores like a second life, so they never left unless absolutely necessary.
At most, they wandered nearby—never to another region entirely.
I'd heard even Rene coming here for Lil was extremely rare... No way the master of the Demonic Realm would abandon it to come elsewhere...
'...Shit.'
I kept trying to deny it in my head, but a sigh escaped me.
Whenever I thought 'no way' or denied something like this, it always ended up happening.
.
.
.
.
.
Once all the demonkin were armed and even the not-fully-tamed unicorn was prepped, 'they' arrived right on cue.
"Is this where the dryad is?!"
"Bow before the procession of the great Titan Gods Tribe!"
The ones who'd been snooping around lately, puzzled by the forest's rapid regeneration, and tossing in those blowhard demonkin as scouts.
The demonkin from the western continent had come swarming in a horde.
"Master, intruders!"
"Indeed... You foresaw their movements and ordered us to arm."
'...Not really.'
What the hell were these guys doing popping up all of a sudden?
I'd prepared for the mysterious entity Rene warned about, and now these randos crawled out.
Of course, they'd been lurking around lately, so it wasn't strange for them to show—but why now?
'Or maybe the one Rene warned about is connected to them?'
Either way, enemies had appeared, and we couldn't ignore them.
Tension rose at the aggressive aura of what seemed like dozens—not the lone scouts from before. Our side's armed demonkin stepped out of the ruins to confront the invaders encircling the outer forest.
And among them, the most eye-catching one was...
'Huge...'
A giant. Self-proclaimed with the arrogant title of 'Titan God'.
One of the west's ruling species stood tall amid the invaders, arms crossed, glaring down at our battle-ready demonkin.
"You vermin! Bow your heads! Before the great Titan Gods' procession..."
"Shut it."
"...!"
As a demonkin, backed by the giant's presence, tried to intimidate us pompously, the giant in the center irritably silenced the babbling demonkin.
Then, in a booming voice fitting his massive frame, he declared,
"I am Logi, vassal of His Great Majesty the Titan God King, the voice that conveys His Majesty's will. New ruler of the south. Hear now His Majesty's solemn decree with open ears."
"...?"
What did he just say? New ruler?
"His Great Majesty the Titan God King desires the dryad in your possession. Yet he also acknowledges you as a being unlike the other worms. Thus, new ruler of the south, I propose this: Deliver the dryad to His Majesty with your own hands."
He spoke with utter certainty that the dryad was here. Did they have some other confirmation, or were they jumping to conclusions?
Either way, this giant calling me the south's new ruler was spouting nonsense with shameless confidence.
"Do so, and you shall be spared humiliation. This is His Majesty's mercy and recognition toward you, the one who shall become the new ruler of the south."
"...Ha."
Boiling it down simply...
They'd beat me senseless and take her anyway, so to save face as someone with some power in the south, they wanted me to hand her over myself?
"That's how giants operate."
Alfred, knowledgeable as ever, shook his head and explained about the giants.
"If they want something, they take it. They believe only the strong have the right to possess all. If they desire something, their actions boil down to two: seize it by force, or let the weak naturally offer it to the strong."
"Good grief."
The entire race was basically thugs. Or maybe just average for demonkin.
"Daddy...?"
Seeing me click my tongue, Dry looked up at me anxiously, sensing my unease.
I gently stroked her head.
"Is my voice transmitting outside right now?"
"Yes. Pandora has the magic linked, so anything you say will carry out."
I gestured to Pandora to activate the voice transmission spell and declared to the horde outside and the giant.
"Cut the bullshit and get lost. You rude bastards trampling into someone else's territory with your filthy feet."
Because of you lot, all the new trees I grew are snapped.
Do you have any idea how much Dry's been handling in these ruins?
If she vanished tomorrow, food supplies would falter, we'd starve on scraps, the elves who trust and follow us because of her would rebel instantly, and for the forest especially—no one cleans better than Dry. And you want me to hand her over?
And above all...
"Daddy!"
As I declared boldly, Dry beamed as if she'd known I would—wait, wasn't she looking up anxiously just now? Anyway, seeing her bright smile softened my expression a bit.
Yeah. Leaving aside everything else, how could I sell off the kid who calls me Daddy?
"A foolish choice..."
Hearing my voice through the magic, the giant flew into a rage and stomped the ground.
-Boom!!!
The ~15-meter-tall giant's stomp sent faint vibrations all the way inside the ruins. The western demonkin, sneering disdainfully at us, began readying for battle one by one.
"All units, prepare for ba—"
As I was about to give the order, and my demonkin—ready to slaughter the enemy at my command—raised their weapons, I spotted something odd among the enemy demonkin through the [Robot Vacuum]'s camera and halted.
"Master?"
What? Why's that one there... Wait a sec.
"Mimic?"
"What's up?"
The mimic was right here? The map showed it properly in the bedroom... So why...
"Erzsebet?"
Why was Erzsebet there... No, it looked slightly different...
"Hm...? What the hell are you?! When did you slip in?!"
As I blankly stared at the white-haired woman who'd somehow wedged herself among the enemies, the demonkin—spotting her a beat later—panicked and backed away.
Who wouldn't, with a chillingly beautiful woman weeping tears of blood right beside them?
"Erzsebet... do you know her...?"
"What're you babbling?! Die!"
Right before battle erupted, in this hair-trigger moment, a stranger appeared among them. The demonkin, on maximum alert, instantly attacked the white-haired woman.
It was a swift, precise judgment to survive the dangerous battlefield... but this time, it backfired fatally.
-Splash!!
"Die... Wh-what?!"
The demonkin's claws pierced the white-haired woman's chest perfectly. Blood sprayed out, but eerily, it hung frozen in midair as if time had stopped.
The demonkin frantically tried to yank his arm free, but felt his body—no, the blood from the wound—contracting, gripping his arm. Overcome by strange terror, he struggled to pull away.
"What are you?!"
"Enemy!"
The surrounding demonkin gripped their weapons and charged at her. At that moment, the blood-weeping woman's eyes flashed.
"Gaaak...!!"
The demonkin whose arm was trapped withered like a mummy in an instant, all his blood sucked out through his arm. The extracted blood writhed, morphing into a whipping tendril that swept the demonkin aside in one go.
"Kwaaak!"
"Wh-what is this...! Damn it...!"
"........."
I—and my subordinates readying for battle—watched the scene in stunned silence.
A massacre. Nothing else described it. Seeing the slender woman ruthlessly slaughter the demonkin left my subordinates dazed, though some nodded upon recognizing her.
"Er-Erzsebet... as powerful as ever."
Just like I had earlier, an elf mistook her face for Erzsebet's and muttered absentmindedly. Then, the woman—having effortlessly dodged the massive giant's flailing arms that wrecked the surroundings, split him from crotch to crown, and tore him apart—whipped her head toward us.
"Erzsebet...???"
"...Uh, um...?"
The elf who'd spoken up realized something was off and hurriedly covered his mouth, but it was too late.
"You know her...??? Where... is Erzsebet...?????"
Weeping blood tears, radiating eerie madness, the woman strode toward us, leaving a sea of blood and corpses behind.
My subordinates—who'd been ready to bravely face the western demonkin at my order—felt a twinge of fear and stepped back in unison.
I watched the woman manipulating blood just like Erzsebet, pondered briefly, then spoke through the still-connected voice transmission magic.
"You're... the Empress?"