077. False
“Sis, did you really meet the Demon King?”
“Yeah.”
“What was he like? What kind of guy is the Demon King?”
“Hot.”
“...Being hot isn't the point, Sis.”
“You too.”
“Ah, thanks, but still.”
The Akan forces that had returned to Hotenwork assessed their casualties and took time to regroup.
After washing away his fatigue with a meal and a bath, Cain headed to Ravinia's room.
The captain of the Blue Meteor Mage Corps and the captain of the White Wolf Knight Order were with him.
The Demon King. An eternal nemesis that seemed impossible to coexist with, yet somehow they had achieved a form of it.
But that coexistence stemmed from human superiority. The sense of supremacy—that the Demon King was no longer absolute, that he could be used, that he could be dealt with anytime a problem arose—had created the current situation.
Thus, a Demon King hiding his tower was something that shouldn't exist. If he did, they had to find him no matter the cost.
He was the fifth prince who had come to Hotenwork, resolved to search for months, perhaps years.
Yet that stretch of time had unraveled in mere days.
Because Ravinia had met the Demon King.
If she had been kidnapped or killed, it would have been a problem, but she was alive and standing before them all.
To say he wasn't pleased would be a lie.
“What race did he seem like?”
The Demon King's race mattered too. Beasts had their ways, titans theirs, frost demons theirs.
Depending on the race, the Demon Kings' tendencies and the atmosphere of their towers changed, as did the responses needed.
“He rescued the Frost Orcs, so an orc? No, orcs aren't demons...”
Ravinia shook her head.
“You don't know?”
“First time seeing him.”
“A demon Sis has never seen...?”
Ravinia was like an uncontrollable bomb. She had roamed the continent chasing demons, beasts, and monsters, giving Akan no small amount of headaches—but conversely, few humans had encountered as many demons as she had.
Maybe only grizzled veteran heroes who had seen it all?
“Don't tell me he's completely unknown like the False Demon King?”
“There can't be another case like the False Demon King. And the Hero Guild named him 'Flame' anyway. If he uses fire, probably not a dark elf or demon.”
The Blue Meteor Mage captain spoke up.
The former could use fire magic, while the latter had many with fire authorities.
“Normal ears.”
“Then a demon?”
“That's the wrong premise. If it were a demon, Sis wouldn't say she didn't know.”
“True enough.”
“But he does have fire authorities, right?”
“The fact that he uses fire has already spread everywhere.”
“But no one's actually seen him, have they?”
Having kidnapped three princesses and thwarted a hero expedition, his infamy pierced the heavens—but no one had truly faced the Erjest Demon King.
“Information on the Demon King isn't only obtained through direct confrontation.”
Cain knew that method too. But he always wondered if it could be fully trusted.
“Black fire.”
“Fire, you say?”
“Magic-point fire.”
But if it was testimony from Ravinia, who had seen it herself, he could believe it.
“Do you remember where you spotted the Demon King?”
Cain unrolled a map. It covered Erjest, but most was blank space. The forbidden zone hadn't been fully explored, but it was better than nothing.
“Nope.”
“Then which direction did he go?”
“Forward.”
“Any distinguishing features? Like something unique about him.”
“Human.”
“Human-like demons are common. Not really a feature. Sis, isn't there anything more specific?”
Ravinia tilted her head for a moment.
“Black hair?”
“And?”
“Black eyes.”
“More?”
“Cher...”
“Cher? Your favorite chimera?”
The one she'd ridden through the snowy mountains.
“Yeah.”
“Why Cher?”
“Scared.”
“Scared?”
“A lot.”
The knight and mage listening intently, along with the prince, let out hollow laughs.
Of course a chimera would fear the Demon King—it was utterly unhelpful.
Cain realized this conversation wasn't yielding anything and changed the subject.
“How'd you meet the orcs?”
“Dogs.”
“Right, the magic hounds.”
Chimeras she'd made herself, sensitive to magic points, like hunting dogs tracking magic.
It was the biggest reason Akan's king had decided to send her ahead to search for the Demon King's tower.
“If there was combat with the Demon King, there'd be magic-point traces. We track with the hounds and search from there...”
“Dead.”
“...Pardon?”
“All of them. The orcs.”
Good lord.
Akan's plan had gone awry from the start.
A festival broke out in the dwarf king's city out of the blue.
“Hillon Kargil!”
“Hillon Kargil!”
Fireworks burst, confetti flew.
Dwarves drunk on beer cheered wildly.
Hillon Kargil, riding a massive machine through their midst, waved. His gesture drew even louder roars.
“The kingdom's hero!”
“The great hero who saved the princess!”
Granada frowned at the satisfied smile spreading across his face.
“Wipe that grin off. Everyone's watching.”
“This good, huh?”
“It is.”
“It's just empty pomp...”
“Do you know? Fame doesn't come just from doing something.”
It was name value, plain and simple.
A name was completed when others called it.
Name value was forged when others praised it.
“Subjugating monsters, wiping out bandits, improving security, finding treasures—if you keep it all to yourself, nothing's more pointless.”
It had to be shown.
Others had to see, marvel, and spread the word.
“One person's rumor or mass sightings. And I guarantee, a kingdom-wide festival and parade like this is the pinnacle of such rumors.”
So of course he'd enjoy it.
“Fame is my honor. And my power.”
“Yes, yes. Congratulations.”
Either way, the parade starred the entire Red Hawk strike team, including Hillon Kargil. Granada managed his expression and waved back to the dwarves calling his name.
Granada whispered even lower.
“Word from the mountains.”
“Again?”
“Akan forces have arrived in Hotenwork.”
“No hero expeditions happened, and no strike teams head to places without tower intel.”
“Right, neither. Akan's elite includes Ravinia Akan. Know her?”
“Ravinia Akan...”
Akan's third princess.
She stood out vividly in Hillon Kargil's memory, which cataloged nearly all royals and nobles.
A princess to watch closely.
He realized Akan's goal.
“They're hunting the tower.”
“That's what you said too.”
“We have to stop them.”
The tower being exposed and destroyed wasn't right. It would fall someday, but not now.
'The Demon King wants to use me, but I'm using him too.'
Thanks to the Demon King, he'd gained the Golden Moon Merchant Guild as a patron and massive funding.
Thanks to him, he'd slain the Beast Demon King.
Thanks to him, he'd stopped the Lust Demon King.
Thanks to him, he'd become an Argon in headquarters.
He didn't know the details since it wasn't explained, but the Demon King had gained something too. But was it more than what he'd gotten?
He didn't think so, but even if it was, it didn't matter.
What mattered was that Hillon was satisfied with this relationship for now—and wanted to milk it more.
Thus, he didn't want Berge's advantage of a hidden tower to vanish.
That would lead to a hero expedition, the Demon King's subjugation, and the end of their bond.
“Go yourself.”
“What?”
“Take the Red Hawk strike team and join them.”
“...?”
“Say I sent you to help.”
“If we suddenly show up offering help, you think Akan will accept?”
“They will. The Red Hawks joined the Erjest hero expedition, and you stuck with me to the end.”
Before the harsh lands of Erjest, experience was invaluable.
“Then...”
“Then we just circle around tower-less areas?”
“That'd raise suspicion. Akan's mages are paranoid.”
“Then?”
“Don't play games—show them everything, step by step. Just save the tower spot for dead last.”
In the process, Akan would suffer heavy losses. Maybe even annihilation.
“What if they push to the end?”
“After that, the Demon King-sama handles it.”
Hillon had never heard of stealth hiding the tower itself. But he knew the depths of Berge Dayas's cunning.
So, laughably, this hero trusted that Demon King.
“If you feed him their movements, plans, everything from the inside, he'll never fall.”
Observing from outside versus manipulating from within were worlds apart. They'd be rats in the Demon King's palm.
“If they ask how you knew about Akan?”
The Hero Guild might or might not know, but nothing had come through official channels to Hillon.
It was bound to raise suspicions.
“Say you planted eyes in Hotenwork after the failed Erjest expedition, just in case.”
“They'll buy that?”
“They'll have to when a witness appears.”
“You mean really...?”
“Of course it's a lie.”
“...”
Granada's face twisted grotesquely at the nonchalance.
“Fools once deceived by lies take them for truth. Makes them the staunchest allies.”
“...What's that supposed to mean?”
“Just say Luize Berft vouches for it.”
“...?”
This wasn't how I expected it to play out, but it's not bad.
“Go as soon as the parade ends. I'll wrap things here.”
“Understood.”
Granada nodded.
Hillon Kargil's smile deepened as he gazed at the dwarves.
“Not a bad plan.”
It aligned with what Berge had considered. In some ways, it was more advanced.
Berge had just planned to buy people through the Golden Moon Merchant Guild and watch.
But Hillon Kargil's was better. No risk of their relationship being exposed, which Berge worried about.
Luize Berft, that wild princess, would be the perfect witness.
“Hillon Kargil...”
At first, he'd followed forcibly due to Armani's Orb.
But he'd adapted, and now proposed better paths himself.
Because it benefited him.
Their Demon King-hero dynamic was symbiotic mutual gain, not hierarchy.
Even if it was being nurtured for future use, that didn't change the present.
That had shaped Hillon Kargil.
The epitome of human greed.
“We might need to watch him closely.”
“I get it.”
This solution benefited Berge too, but hid Hillon Kargil's greed for ties with Akan.
“Looks like after this crisis, I'll dump all magic points into interference negation for a while.”
Hillon was a viper. He wouldn't bare his fangs without certainty of advantage. The foundation was Berge's own overwhelming might.
“Yes.”
“But first, send these damned pests packing.”
“Krutoo says they have chimeras that detect magic points.”
“Probably.”
“What if we scatter magic points around the mountains to confuse them?”
“With Granada stirring from inside, it'd be even easier.”
“Yes.”
“Good idea.”
While they floundered, maybe trigger a light avalanche or two.
Berge reviewed every trick he'd used during the hero expedition.
End of 077. False