Chapter 2 - If you want it, fight for it
Chapter 2 - If you want it, fight for it
To think that a King could be ambushed so pointlessly.
To think that subjects would act this way in front of their King.
The terror, fear, and resignation that filled her heart vanished, and rage took their place.
Like a blazing flame, like an erupting volcano, like flowing lava, a hot and explosive primal emotion was etched into every corner of her body.
Clang-.
Suddenly, a strange sound was heard.
She couldn't be sure, but she thought it was the sound of something heavy hitting the floor.
As her thoughts shifted, the flames and lava occupying Yulia's insides gradually subsided.
And Yulia realized she was sitting on a sofa in a room that wasn't very unfamiliar to her.
'Th-this is...'
She was certain. This was Professor Klaus-nim's room, which she had snuck into a few days ago.
She remembered it clearly; after all, Yulia was the one who had snuck into the professor's office behind Klaus-nim's back and looked around for a bit.
She had definitely been in her room, and she had been on the verge of being violently defiled by the human noble cadets, so how was she here....
"Ah, damn it. I spilled all the ink."
A nervous, grumbling voice came from the side.
It was definitely, definitely Klaus-nim's. She remembered his voice clearly.
Yulia slowly turned her head to look at the source of the voice.
There sat a man, picking up the ink bottle that had fallen to the floor, clicking his tongue and grumbling.
"...Professor... Klaus-nim?"
"This cost money, too, and I only used it once, what a waste... Ah, you're awake. Cadet Yulia?"
"Why, why am I here... in the professor-nim's room?"
As she said that, the woman looked over her body with a strange sensation.
The cadet uniform she had been wearing was nowhere to be seen; all she was wearing was a single, stark white shirt.
Without even underwear, just that shirt and a pair of short pants were all she had on.
"...."
Blinking her eyes and thinking for a moment, Yulia soon sorted everything out and slowly opened her mouth.
"Was it you, Professor-nim?"
"That outfit? I apologize, Cadet Yulia. Blood splattered all over your clothes by mistake. I didn't do anything untoward. I swear it."
"No, no. That's not it... I meant you saving me. From the assassin's hands."
"...I haven't been able to undo all the magic restraints yet. That's why I brought you to my room."
So that man really did save her. Yulia thought that and straightened her posture.
'...How miserable.'
She had received help from the very man she had been trying to drag into her affairs. And decisive help at that.
She owed Klaus-nim a debt, and above all, she had shown him everything.
The fact that she, this woman who was actually the Demon King, was in such a miserable situation.
'It's over now. There's no way out.'
Given this situation, who would ever want to be loyal to the Demon King?
A setting sun that had already tilted, an authority that had fallen to the very bottom, never to rise again.
Seeing a woman like this, what could that man possibly see that would make him reconsider her proposal?
"...What happened to the intruder?"
"I dealt with them in the most appropriate way. Well, they became a corpse with a crushed skull."
"...You might get into trouble, Professor-nim."
"Trouble, what trouble? Who would say anything about catching weirdos who broke into the academy?"
Lost in thought, Yulia wondered if the unidentified opponent who had knocked her out in her room might have been the one to do such a thing.
Even though she had been secretly training her body to avoid being taken advantage of by her uncle, if someone could succeed in a surprise attack, such a thing wouldn't have been very difficult.
'Probably one of the Shadows my uncle attached to me.'
Yulia had known of their existence for a long time.
If she had set her mind to it, she could have shaken them off for a while, but doing so would have only increased their vigilance tenfold, so she had pretended not to know and let them be.
But if those Shadows had caused this incident, if they had attacked her and bound her magic, leaving her unable to even resist against humans who had nothing, then she was no longer safe.
'What do I do now? If my uncle, no, if that man is behind this, it means there's nowhere safe anymore. If they're going as far as to cause trouble at the academy, the Demon Castle must be the worst.'
Once again, her situation felt truly miserable.
Even though her savior was right in front of her and she should have expressed her gratitude, Yulia couldn't even say that properly and had to tremble slightly from shame and misery.
"It looks like you're in a difficult spot, Cadet Yulia. Or should I say, Demon King Yulia Agnesa."
"...."
"This incident was a surprise attack without a declaration of war, and if demons were involved, it's clear treason. In terms of the justification that everyone in the world worries about, you've got it in the bag. But... the fact that your expression isn't very bright means that even though you hold the best weapon called justification, there's no one to wield it?"
Yulia nodded as if she had no intention of hiding it.
The Demon King, the ruler of the East, had been ambushed, and the person who saved and took care of her wasn't a demon, but someone who had once fought a bloody battle against those very demons.
What pride was there left to maintain here? What more could she say?
"Commander Klaus-nim. No... Professor Klaus-nim."
"Yes, Cadet Yulia."
"You know that battle. The Mera Battle, where you faced 30,000 of our demon elite troops. That ridiculous fight where both the East and the West predicted the defeat of the Southern Army."
"That was the battle right after I returned as commander. But why are you asking about that?"
"How was it? Before that battle. Hearing the world say you couldn't possibly win. Looking at that massive demon army, what on earth were you thinking?"
This woman was truly pushed to her limit.
Her uncle had finally moved and driven her into a terrible place, and she had almost ended up that way.
But there was no one to help her; the handful of remaining Loyalist Faction members were unable to move from the East, trying to maintain the Demon Castle somehow.
There was no one who could be called a guard; her uncle had taken away everyone with any decent skill.
What's the point of having justification if you don't have the power to wield it?
Right now, it was obvious that the various families of the East would follow her uncle, who was practically the Demon King himself, rather than her, who had no real power and was only a Demon King in name.
To anyone in the world, this was a fight she was guaranteed to lose.
Yulia knew she couldn't back down, that she had to fight to survive.
But just because you fight, just because you resist, doesn't mean you automatically win.
There was a difference in power, there was probability, and there were limits.
The current situation was exactly like that; it could be said to be the same situation as the Western Alliance right before the Mera Battle occurred.
That was why Yulia was asking Klaus-nim.
Weren't you afraid, and how on earth did you win?
'Did heaven help? Was it divine luck? No, no. I showed a bit of humility in front of the others, but in reality, there was no such thing as heaven or whatever.'
Why would he be afraid? He was the one who had planned the whole board.
He was the lead actor performing, the writer crafting the scenario, and the director overseeing everything.
"I thought, 'I will win, no matter what.'"
"...Pardon?"
"I have arrived. I am commanding. I am facing the enemies. Therefore, I will win, no matter what. There is nothing to worry about. That is what I thought, you see?"
"How can you say such a thing..."
"Does it sound like a joke? Unfortunately, I am not joking at all."
At Klaus-nim's words, Yulia stared blankly at the man who had approached her.
It wasn't baseless confidence, nor was it the courage of a fool.
Those prideful elves, the beastkin who lived for their own self-importance, the human nobles who looked at commoners like animals.
It was the words of a man even they, the demons, had acknowledged, a man they revered and also admired.
"Unfortunately, I'm just a professor right now, but even if I had to fight that battle again, even if I were placed in a similar situation again, I would have no problem."
The man who said that clasped his hands together and looked at Yulia with an expression that said, 'Now it's your turn.'
He was saying, 'I have answered, now all that's left is for you to decide.'
"...May I take that to mean that you might help me?"
"If you wish, that is what will happen."
"You would become a soldier serving a powerless King in an immediately difficult fight?"
"Well, wouldn't that depend on what kind of image the employer shows me, and what kind of trust they instill in me?"
Yulia, watching the man who said that with a smile, recalled what he had said.
To become a woman more confident than anyone else in the world and come find him again.
At first, she had taken Klaus-nim's words to mean that she should try to persuade him again once she had become someone with powerful strength, authority, and people she could trust.
But the moment she saw the eyes of the man sitting in front of her, looking at her right now.
Yulia could realize that it had been her misunderstanding.
He was absolutely not wanting those things from her.
"Professor Klaus-nim. I'm sorry to say this, but I can't promise you anything right now."
"I know. Anyone can see that."
"...But, if my work ends someday, then I will give you everything you want."
"Those are nice words to hear."
"They won't just be nice words. Because."
Grab-.
The woman's hand grabs Klaus-nim's collar.
And then, burning with the desire to win this fight at all costs, and the possessiveness to make this man hers, she continues, as if making a declaration.
"As a token of my promise, I will give you myself. Klaus-nim."
Looking at the woman who filled his vision as if in full bloom, the man smiled.
As expected, as expected of our Demon King. She's very hot-blooded.