Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: 67. Heart Demon (2)
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“Heart Demon?”
Yuri burst into laughter.
“Heart Demon? What's that supposed to be? Those ginseng hunters from the hills?”
Mo Yongchan's eyebrow twitched.
“Crazy old coot?”
“Your pronunciation's gone off the rails again.”
“I'm realizin' once more yer the kinda punk who don't need no fancy words.”
“If yer talkin' Heart Demon, ya'd say 'heart seen' turns to 'heart screwed'! Somethin' like that, right, Master?”
“I ain't got no Heart Demon.”
“Why not?”
“'Cause I never learned no freakish martial art like that.”
“Our ancestor made it—how's that freakish?”
“It's freakish 'cause ya can't control it. Impossible from the start. Even if ya move like the wind, ya can't grasp the ungraspable.”
“How can ya be so sure ya can't control it?”
“Gotta poke it with a stick or somethin' to find out if it's gold or a dud, eh?”
“What's a dud?”
“Ain't none out west. Hm...”
“Somethin' ya eat?”
“Right.”
Yuri stood up and brushed the grass off his clothes.
Then he recalled what had happened before falling into the Heart Demon's grasp.
“I sparred with Bernard and dozed off here.”
“Right.”
“Heart Demon, my foot. I just took a nap.”
“Ya sleep with yer energy flarin' all wild like that?”
“Did I? Guess I trained in my sleep.”
“Yuri Brioll.”
Mo Yongchan placed a hand on Yuri's shoulder. Yuri felt the heat radiating from it.
“Ya won't listen to me anyway.”
“Ya mean don't pick up a sword?”
“Yeah.”
“Of course not.”
“But hold back on usin' that power.”
“That's how I caught Yalta.”
“Won't be long 'fore it catches you.”
Yuri shrugged and nodded.
“Got it. I'll keep that concern in mind.”
He had no intention of ignoring Mo Yongchan's words. The man was a seasoned warrior, a supreme expert among the Ten Supremes. He knew the Heavenly Demon's arts better than anyone—even Erich Brioll had consulted him.
Yuri himself fully realized how bizarre the dream he'd just had was.
It had been vividly real—too real—and he couldn't wake from it no matter how he tried. The content had been so sweetly alluring he only wanted to sleep forever.
Yuri rested his fingertips on Guilty's pommel.
If not for this sword, he might never have woken.
“Right.”
Mo Yongchan patted his shoulder.
“Won't be easy. No warrior's ever overcome a Heart Demon.”
Yuri looked at him.
Mo Yongchan's lips curved up, but his eyes didn't smile.
“Not even the Heavenly Demon.”
With that, Mo Yongchan turned and walked away.
Yuri scratched his head as he watched the old man's retreating back.
“Heart Demon, huh...”
He'd kept up the lighthearted act, but deep down, Yuri knew he couldn't take this lightly.
If he fell asleep again and dreamed the same dream, could he wake up unscathed?
No way to be sure.
Yuri tapped Guilty.
“Everyone's got one of those, don't they?”
As if answering—by chance or design—Guilty rang out with a clear tone.
Starting a war wasn't as simple as it sounded.
It required a proper justification.
But if the entire nation was gripped by madness, if the people drunk on demonic energy cried out for vengeance day after day, then it became all too easy.
The Empire was showing ominous signs.
Everyone sensed something was coming.
The only questions were when and where.
Nations bordering the Empire kept sending envoys to curry favor, while Joachim poured every resource into fortifying the Alloy Mountains.
“Looks like the Holy Kingdom's succession is going smoothly.”
Fiore remarked.
Yuri, standing beside him, asked,
“Why do ya say that?”
“The reply came from Larson this time.”
“That guy?”
“He'll be king soon. Probably handling the necessary business beforehand.”
Fiore folded the letter.
“Seems like he's doing a decent job, all things considered.”
Yuri nodded.
He wasn't all that trustworthy himself, but it looked like he had some capable subordinates.
Whether from charisma or bloodline, that was a talent in itself.
“What about us? Got any good ministers?”
“The Foreign Minister's working hard, isn't he?”
“True enough.”
“Won't need 'em much later anyway.”
Once Cedric took the throne, wise ministers wouldn't be necessary.
He could handle anything he set his mind to.
Right now he was into history, so a groundbreaking paper might shake up the scholars soon.
Yuri chuckled, imagining Brioll under Cedric's rule.
“What's so funny?”
“The future's looking bright.”
“War?”
“No. The peace after.”
“That'll come, will it?”
“It has to.”
“Here.”
Yuri read the letter Fiore handed him.
It wasn't penned by the king himself, but the handwriting looked clumsy enough to be his.
Suddenly, Yuri thought of Sibylla.
She'd joined the temple knights with no word since—probably being put through the wringer by Larson.
Even now, with succession all but certain, if he was still hounding her, the rift between them must run deep.
Yuri asked abruptly,
“If the Empire moves, will the Holy Kingdom's Holy Knights step up?”
“Who knows.”
“Ever met a Holy Knight?”
“Yes.”
“What were they like?”
“Usable.”
“Fought one?”
“Long ago.”
One of the Ten Supremes hailed from the Holy Kingdom—a paladin called a Holy Knight.
He devoted himself to faith in the temple, rarely emerging unless catastrophe struck.
In his previous life, he'd stayed out of the war at first.
He joined late, but then went silent—likely fallen to one of the Empire's many Ten Supremes.
“Close with him?”
“No.”
“Think ya could get him to move?”
“Doubt it.”
“Hm...”
Yuri hoped he'd step up early.
To rouse a Holy Knight, he might need to visit the Holy Kingdom himself.
That would be the fastest way.
“Don't rush it.”
Reading his mind, Fiore said,
“Force it, and ya lose what ya already hold.”
“Yes, sir.”
Yuri nodded. Still, they needed to hurry.
For now, with the Empire looming, it was time to solidify alliances with the other nations.
No one said it, but everyone was anxious. That unity made opposition to the Empire a shared consensus.
If the Holy Knights joined in, the war could unfold entirely differently from his last life. They might even halt the Empire's advance from the start.
They had to cooperate with other nations as much as possible while whittling down the Empire's forces.
“Hm...”
Yuri tilted his head.
“Father.”
“Yes?”
“Got a question.”
“Shoot.”
The Empire was strong.
One reason: nearly half the Ten Supremes belonged to or favored the Empire.
Peel them away, and things got much easier.
With Yalta dead, that left four.
Take out one more, and it'd be a cakewalk.
“Ya close with that ogre?”
“No.”
The Ten Supremes weren't all human.
There was the Death Knight Gerdt, the elf Inariel, the dragonkin Cruar—and one more non-human held a seat.
“Can't say I'm close to Donchichi.”
He was an ogre dwelling in the northern Imperial forests.
Low intellect, but his innate might had earned him supremacy.
In raw combat power, he ranked near the top.
“Ya say his name so casually—thought maybe ya were buddies.”
“Just sparred once ages ago.”
“Oh...”
“What's on yer mind?”
“He's simple-minded, so maybe we could lure him to Brioll somehow.”
“Impossible.”
“Why?”
“Donchichi...”
Fiore's next words caught Yuri completely off guard.
“...understands loyalty.”
“Pardon?”
He hadn't expected a word like "loyalty."
Fiore continued.
“Long ago, Donchichi received aid from the Empire. In return, the imperial family granted him the northern forests for as long as his line served loyally—and pardoned his crimes.”
“I see...”
“He hasn't forgotten the Emperor's grace.”
“Didn't know he was such an upstanding ogre.”
“He's just slow on the uptake. In his unchanging ways, he might surpass most humans.”
“Fair enough.”
Yuri nodded.
Persuasion would be tough, at any rate.
“Guess we pray we never meet the loyal ogre Donchichi on the battlefield.”
In his previous life, Donchichi had been mobilized but rarely took the field personally—just waited in reserve.
But when he did, it was devastating.
He'd shatter armies single-handedly, gouging the earth with monstrous strength.
Enraged, he destroyed indiscriminately, so even the Empire had to handle him carefully.
“Understood for now.”
Donchichi stood with his feet sunk into the damp earth.
The cool sensation seeping through his thick soles felt good.
“Grrr...”
He shuffled sideways, leaving footprints in the mud. Before long, marking the ground with his sole prints had taken him deep into the forest.
Donchichi inhaled deeply.
The forest's scents flooded his lungs.
In one breath, he knew what was happening throughout the woods—what lurked where.
Donchichi scowled.
Something was approaching.
Unwelcome.
He moved deeper to avoid it, but another scent tickled his nose.
Donchichi halted.
“Grrr...”
Looked like he'd have to head back.
Reluctantly, he trudged toward the forest's edge. Along the way, he yanked a small apple tree from the ground with one hand.
Gripping it, he strode forward purposefully.
There stood the one he served.
“It's been a while.”
Donchichi gazed down at the human, pondering the courtesy he'd learned long ago. He knelt on one knee, mimicking it as best he could.
“Crown Prince... I... see you.”
An ogre's vocal cords could roughly mimic human speech.
Not perfectly, but enough for basic communication.
“Yes, Donchichi—loyal servant of the imperial house.”
The visitor was the Emperor's heir, Yugen.
Donchichi stared at Yugen and spoke again.
“Smell... bad.”
“Smell? I'm wearing the finest perfume.”
“What ya brought... dangerous.”
“Ah, ya sense it already? Must be the supreme level—or ogre senses.”
“Me... special ogre.”
“Yes. Indeed.”
Behind Yugen waited a group of knights.
They faced the ogre without a flicker of expression.
“Bring it.”
At Yugen's wave, a knight behind handed over something wrapped in silk.
Yugen said,
“Donchichi, I've a task for ya.”
“I... loyal to Emperor. Do... what I can.”
“Not difficult.”
Yugen smiled.
“Just stand still.”
With that, he unwrapped the silk, revealing the object inside.
Seeing it, Donchichi recoiled.
His massive frame made even one step rumble the ground.
“That... dangerous. Dangerous.”
“Look.”
“Don't... wanna see.”
“Donchichi, ye who knows loyalty. That's an order. Stay put.”
Yugen advanced, thrusting the object forward.
“And behold it.”
Inside was a scrap of parchment.
Black energy billowed from Yugen's hand.
“Grrr...”
The ogre covered his eyes with both hands, but Yugen forced them away.
He could've resisted, yet Donchichi didn't.
The small human shoved the parchment in his face, and he submitted helplessly.
In the end, he stared at it up close.
Donchichi groaned like a beast.
“Grrrr...”
His eyes glazed over, and he slumped to the ground. Yugen pressed the parchment closer relentlessly.
“Just send this beast out first to cause chaos. That's all it takes, right? Who needs justification? An animal on a rampage.”
Yugen laughed.
His knights stood unmoved amid it all.
Their eyes were swallowed by darkness to the whites, black veins bulging at their throats.
The ogre's low wail shook the forest.