050. Everyone's Circumstances
All motion slowed to a crawl.
Hillon Kargil's sword sliced through the air.
The Demon King's short scream rang out.
Slice—
The head fell.
The Demon King's head.
It tumbled down.
"Ah."
Casey let out a scream.
The Demon King.
His Majesty the Demon King.
Was dead.
Casey, who had served as Drakson Dolph's adjutant for decades, couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it.
The humans' ear-splitting screams.
The vibrant life force spilling from their blood.
None of it registered.
"...Your Majesty."
His trembling hand reached out. So far away.
"Die!"
A human knight swung his sword. Casey caught it barehanded and crushed it. Then he ripped out the knight's throat and hurled it aside.
"Your Majesty."
One step forward. A mage summoned wind.
Squelch—
His muscles forcibly parted the gale. He shattered the mage's heart.
"...Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Your Majesty. Your Majesty."
Drakson drew closer, inch by inch.
Unbearable rage surged up.
How dare they. Filthy humans. To whom.
How dare they killhim.
On a battlefield tangled with thousands, the face of the one who slew the Demon King burned clear in his mind.
Hillon Kargil.
The dog who killed the Lust Demon King.
A hero. A mangy mutt of a hero.
Die. Kill. I will kill you.
He bared his killing intent. His feral instincts exploded. Magic points erupted outward.
I will definitely.
Kill you.
In that instant—
Thud—
A powerful impact shook him. He rolled through a mess of monster and human corpses.
Some filthy insect...!
"Pull yourself together, Lady Casey."
"...Kwail?"
Kwail, draped in bearskin, dragged her along.
"We have to escape."
"But His Majesty...!"
"His Majesty is already gone."
"Then revenge...!"
"The tower's collapsing! If we stay, forget revenge—we'll just die like dogs!"
The tower belonged to the Demon King.
His minions belonged to the tower.
Thus.
When the Demon King died, the tower crumbled.
When the tower crumbled, all monsters and demons lost its protection.
The power that negated Dimensional Interference.
Now, without the shield of the Demon King and his tower, every surviving demon and monster faced that weakening force from another dimension head-on once more.
"If not now, we won't get another chance to flee."
Not while the tower still held its shape.
"Who decided that?"
Heroes drenched in monster blood closed in.
"Who said we'd let a high demon slip away?"
"Two high demons here!"
"Beat 'em down! The Demon King's dead—they're weakened!"
"Mine!"
Their blades rained down.
"Go."
Kwail blocked every attack aimed at Casey with his body.
"I'm not so weak that I'd lose to the likes of you."
Kwail roared.
That day, three high demons, ten mid demons, fifty-two low demons, and 1,321 monsters perished.
The tower crumbled.
No—vanished.
Forged by the power of Ma-gye, the tower dissolved the moment its core, the Demon King, was gone.
Leaving only the corpses of monsters and demons, heroes and humans—the brutal scars of battle.
"Ha, was this your plan from the start?"
Rozel Charnt gazed mournfully at the fallen Demon King's corpse.
"Given the circumstances, we simply did our best."
"Yeah, right."
Hillon Kargil replied politely. Rozel snorted in irritation but said nothing more.
Heroes lived to slay demons and Demon Kings, absorbing their power to grow stronger.
But with fierce competition, an unwritten rule held: no disputes over kills afterward, no matter who landed the blow.
Besides, Hillon Kargil and Berge had played their parts perfectly.
If they hadn't pinned Drakson down even briefly, Rozel's flames never would have scorched him.
If Hillon hadn't turned away and severed the head, the fight might still rage—perhaps the severed head would be Rozel Charnt's.
'Can't bitch at a guy who fought hard about greed when he's already killed one Demon King.'
She could, of course. Some even picked fights to kill over it.
But they bore the risks.
Who would follow a leader who blocked others from kills just to hog them?
"I'll take the corpse."
Hiding her regret, she stored Drakson Dolph's body in her subspace pocket.
All monster and demon byproducts were hers and Akan Kingdom's by prior agreement, so Berge paid it no mind.
Drakson Dolph's death alone fulfilled his purpose here.
'I wonder if my tower ends up like this after I die.'
Imagining that damned hero scum desecrating his corpse made bile rise in his throat.
As idle thoughts wandered, cleanup finished.
Akan Kingdom's forces stuffed valuables and corpses into subspace pouches, recovered their dead, and torched the site.
"Casualties?"
"141 minor injuries, 55 serious, 271 dead."
Rozel Charnt's face twisted.
"...Heavy losses."
"The demons and monsters exceeded expectations. And the Demon King's death lingered far longer than anticipated..."
Inside a tower, demons and monsters held absolute dominance. Especially when their levels surpassed predictions.
She glanced sidelong at Hillon.
"Nothing like the Lust Demon King. We may need to reassess the other Demon Kings' strengths."
"Understood."
Still, Akan Kingdom's painful losses stood.
"...Can't be helped. We got what we came for."
"One more thing."
"...?"
"No money or valuables to speak of."
"Impossible."
"I searched multiple times in disbelief. Nothing."
"...The kingdom will riot. Well, Akan has money to burn."
Rozel Charnt dismissed it. Wealth meant little to her.
Only the Demon King's flesh—from the Beast Demon King, said to lack magical aptitude. That was her prize.
Then—
"Prison cells here!"
As the basement prison vanished, captive princes and princesses emerged.
Two princes, two princesses.
Both princes from Ormus Kingdom. One princess, first of a powerless minor nation. And the last...
"...!"
Why the hell is that bitch here?
Berge froze. Those who saw the princess's face recoiled in shock.
"Princess!"
"My god, Your Highness!"
"Why is the princess here?"
Akan's knights and mages prostrated en masse.
"...Hmm."
Languid crimson eyes swept over them. Oil-matted purple hair fluttered in the wind.
"...The tower."
She tilted her head. Her long robe dragged limply across the ground.
"The Demon King is dead?"
"Yes, Your Highness. We vanquished him!"
"Who... are you?"
"Captain of the Golden Lion Knights, Hokel."
"Ah, vaguely familiar..."
The princess, mumbling to herself, spotted Rozel Charnt and waved.
"A familiar face..."
"Princess. What in the world are you doing here?"
Rozel sighed deeply.
"Gathering materials."
"Materials?"
"Monster flesh..."
"You came all the way to a Demon King's domain for monster flesh?"
The princess nodded blankly.
"The Beast Demon King didn't rampage?"
"Paid him, got monsters."
"You paid and he tossed you some low-grade ones?"
'Crazy bitch as expected.'
Berge, who'd been listening intently, couldn't help but admire her.
Walk into a tower alone and bargain with the Demon King?
For chimera research?
Out of her mind, or missing a few screws.
'Drakson must've taken my magic points from her in exchange.'
No, what the hell were they thinking, buyer and seller?
'And I got flak for not following canon.'
Canon had no clause against human alliances, naturally—no Demon King ever had.
At best, turning them into dark mages or knights for forced labor.
But Alein's Demon Kings were different.
'If Drakson's this bad, Jason Cockmondo definitely. Maybe Ugar Belbek too. Only Reina Sordain might not collude with humans.'
"Did His Majesty know you were here?"
"Left a letter."
"Just a letter and you came here? Sigh. You reckless princess."
Rozel pinched her brow.
"Back to the palace first. Got it?"
"But still..."
"No buts—with the Demon King dead, what more? We took all the monster corpses. Let's go."
"...Lots?"
"Tons."
"Okay."
The princess nodded.
"Wrap up and withdraw! Keep it quiet—move out stealthily!"
"Yes!"
"Escort the princess."
"Yes."
Rozel tossed the princess to the knights and oversaw the rest.
Akan's elites slipped away in silence.
Thus.
The Beast Demon King died.
And the Beast Tower crumbled.
Jetoson.
He had no family. An orphan, luckily taken in by a grandfather running a small magic shop.
He started as a clerk, learning the merchant's life, and discovered his talent.
His gift of gab.
He excelled at reading emotions and persuading.
When Grandpa died and left him the shop, that talent shone.
He peddled junk at premium prices. Slap on plausible effects and names, and people bit.
He raked in cash.
Until trouble hit.
"Out of luck, huh."
Dwarf princess, Luize Berft.
Who knew the one he scammed was royalty.
Who knew she'd catch on.
Luize took everything in the shop as payback.
'If that was it, fine!'
But her grudge didn't end there.
"Dare scam me? I'll make sure you never set foot in this business again."
She used her princess clout to spread malicious (from his view) rumors among the nobility.
Scamming a key diplomatic partner, the dwarf princess? It went public. He cried innocence, but other victims piled on.
"What kind of damn bastard is this?"
"Disgracing the kingdom."
"This trash calls himself a merchant?"
Guards raided, shut down the shop forcibly, stripped his merchant rights. Seized savings went to the treasury.
He escaped prison only because Luize "generously" refused to waste food and board on him.
'Damn it! Scams aren't just my thing!'
Time passed.
No jobs—rumors everywhere. No one took him.
He had to leave the capital.
'Where to?'
Trapalta Union, most commerce-savvy?
Then he recalled the man who'd tossed him one gold.
'Golden Moon Merchant Group was booming...'
Hero Hillon Kargil buddy with the heir, scored big investments...
'Let's go.'
No way he'd renege after chucking a whole gold.
Jetoson knocked on Golden Moon Merchant Group's door.
Unaware it was the dragon's maw.
< 050. Everyone's Circumstances > End