The Deceived, The Deceiver, The Clueless 4
Fenrir struck down yet another human before her eyes.
Immediately after, she turned toward the figure standing before her—the one wearing the golden mask.
With a bloodthirsty grin, she raised her sword and roared.
“You filthy bastard! How dare you lay a hand on Hela! In the Demon King’s name, I’ll sever that disgusting neck right here!”
With those words, Fenrir charged forward, her flame-wreathed greatsword blazing.
But then…
“…”
“…Haa…”
-Crack!
“…Huh?”
In the next instant, Hela’s handcuffs snapped apart, severed as if by some unseen force.
Fenrir’s face twisted with confusion at the unexpected turn of events.
And then…
“He… Hel… la?”
-Smack!!!
“Gah!”
Hela’s palm slammed into the back of Fenrir’s head with brutal force. Before she could even process what was happening, Fenrir collapsed face-first onto the ground and lost consciousness.
*
Watching Fenrir charge in, ready to cleave the one who had dared to mock her friend, Hela felt an awkward embarrassment, as though she herself had done something wrong. She glanced at the golden mask—her master, the Demon King—and spoke.
“What should we do with her?”
“Well… it’s quite the spectacle. Charging in without a second thought to save her friend…”
“That’s not the issue here! At this rate, the plan we’ve worked so hard to set up is—”
“You filthy bastard! I’ll avenge the Demon King right here and now!”
“Oh, for—!”
Fenrir kept blurting out lines that made Hela’s face burn with secondhand shame, completely unaware of the chaos she was causing. Hela fought the overwhelming urge to rip off her own handcuffs and smack her friend senseless.
Just then, the Demon King addressed Fenrir in a calm voice.
“The humans wouldn’t have survived this situation anyway. With things as they are, the original plan is as good as ruined.”
“Wh… what do we do?”
“We’ll have to clean this up and come up with something new. First, we need to calm her down, and then—”
“I’ll handle it. Please give me permission to knock some sense into that idiot who doesn’t even realize what she’s done.”
“…Go easy on her.”
The Demon King spoke with a faint, wry smile. The moment he granted permission, Hela shattered the decorative handcuffs and drove her fist into the back of her friend’s head—still frozen in confusion.
“Gah!”
Fenrir crumpled to the ground, knocked out cold by the full force of Hela’s strike. Her subordinates stared in stunned disbelief.
“L… Leader?”
“Wh… what is this? Hela, why would you… betray us?”
“Haa…”
Hela let out a deep sigh at the misunderstanding. Instead of answering, she looked to her master. The Demon King dispelled the illusion magic he had maintained until now.
Then…
“Huh?”
“Wh… what the hell is this?”
The human soldiers who had been helplessly overwhelmed just moments ago began to change. Their forms melted away like snow, revealing undead beneath.
Undead—magic strictly forbidden among the free races, used only by demons. The realization that they had been attacking what they thought were humans, only to discover they were actually demon thralls, left the demons more shaken than the thought of Hela’s supposed betrayal.
Then Hela spoke in a composed voice, speaking on behalf of the Demon King who still wore the appearance of a bandaged demon.
“I’ll explain everything later. For now, secure the area.”
*
Inside the hastily erected command tent, the scene before me was rather amusing.
Fenrir Fimbulvelrn, Lord of the Flame Valley and the third strongest demon in the Demon Kingdom. She had always been wild and sharp-tongued, even toward me—the Demon King—grumbling whenever she carried out my orders.
But now, the ever-tough Fenrir was…
“Uwaaaah! I… I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry, Demon King! I… I stupidly ruined your plan…!”
She knelt before me, sobbing uncontrollably as she poured out her apologies.
Honestly, she had only acted to save her comrade in danger. I saw it as nothing more than a simple misunderstanding and wasn’t particularly upset.
However, the other person in the tent—Hela—had no such leniency. With a cold expression, she addressed the weeping Fenrir in a sharp tone.
“An apology won’t fix this! The Demon King had to disguise himself as a filthy human for this plan. And you tore it all apart. How do you intend to take responsibility?”
“Ugh… Th… then I’ll commit seppuku right here—”
“What use is that worthless neck of yours? Stop spouting nonsense!”
“Sob… sob…”
Hela rarely raised her voice at her own kind. The fact that she was this furious showed just how deeply she was affected.
Only after the scolding session—long enough to make even me feel guilty—finally ended did Hela let out a heavy sigh and speak to Fenrir.
“Haa… Since the Demon King says it’s fine, I’ll leave it at that. But you’ll repay this debt by serving him with absolute loyalty from now on. Even if it grinds your bones to dust, make sure you do it properly!”
“Sob… sob… Y… yes… Demon King… I’m… I’m really sorry. I… I’ll do better from now on. I won’t let this happen again…”
“Alright, alright… I get it, so stop crying already. Right now, we need to assess the situation accurately.”
Fenrir and Hela finally seemed to have calmed down. Yet watching them, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly for a different reason.
‘Still… she really is remarkably considerate in moments like this… Hela.’
Hela had displayed an uncharacteristic level of rage. But I knew it wasn’t genuine. Fenrir had meant well but caused an accident through sheer bad luck. If I had scolded her directly or demanded accountability, it would have left deep scars on both her body and mind.
Of course, that wasn’t my nature, but considering the casualties among the undead, the importance of the plan, and our current lack of resources while trying to rebuild our forces, it could have easily happened.
To protect her friend as much as possible in such a situation, Hela had deliberately shown excessive anger, doing everything she could to shield Fenrir.
Seeing her go so far for her friend, I realized once again that she was an even more beautiful person than I had thought.
‘Well… to her, I’m probably just a master she must serve…’
With a quiet smile, I was about to ask for a more detailed report on the situation outside when—
“M… My Lord!”
“Hm? What is it?”
Crassus entered the tent in a hurry. Now that the illusion had been lifted, he stood before us in his true form as a Plutos and delivered urgent news.
*
A world of darkness where nothing could be seen.
Her eyes had long since burned away in the terrible flames, and searing pain still radiated from every part of what remained of her body. It was a sensation she had never experienced in her entire life.
Yearning for death to come quickly, Pompey cursed the situation that left her without even the strength to end her own life. She took one agonizing step after another toward the rest she so desperately craved.
“These… filthy demons… that damned Emperor… I won’t… I won’t let it end like this… Just wait… Soon, all of you here will—”
As she lay dying, Pompey spat curses at those responsible. Then, a voice reached her ears.
“Unfortunately, that won’t happen.”
“!...”
It was an arrogant woman’s voice. Even without sight, Pompey could tell a demon now stood right beside her.
“We killed every human who came with you. There’s no one left to send word back to the Empire.”
“…Heh… heh heh…”
Pompey let out a mocking laugh at the demon’s confident words. With death at her doorstep, there was only one thing she wanted to do: crush that arrogant demon’s nose and plant the seed of fear in their heart.
“Sorry… but… it’s too late.”
“…What?”
“You… don’t know… but one of my subordinates… escaped… successfully…”
“! Th… that’s impossible. Every one I saw was—”
“Heh… heh… Think what you… want… But that one… used invisibility magic… Heh… heh heh… The Empire… won’t forgive you… Heh!... Gah!”
With her last ounce of strength, Pompey forced out the words through the agony in her mouth. Having delivered her final venom, she felt her tongue crumble and could speak no more.
But it didn’t matter. She had struck a blow against them. All that remained was to watch these filthy demons die in despair from the afterlife…
“Was that true?”
‘…Huh?’
“It seems so. One of the bodies we brought is missing, so—”
‘Wh… what…? Whose voices are these…? Wh… why…?’
Suddenly, she heard the voices of the tax collector and Crassus.
“…In that case… it might actually work out better?”
“Indeed. It seems everything is going according to our lord’s will.”
‘Lord?... What… are you… talking about...’
The two were having a conversation that boded ill. Pompey belatedly realized something had gone terribly wrong, but…
‘This… can’t be… how… is this… happening…’
With that, she met her death without another movement.