Chapter 141 - Volume 8 (1/2)

Volume 8, Chapter 0: The Dark Twins, Part 1

Within the world [Tess], they were called the [Forces of Darkness].

Why were they called “of Darkness”?

It’s simply because their race had the “bloodline” of a “Demon”.

The forces of darkness were mainly comprised of the beastmen, intelligent monsters, and Dark Elves.

The beastmen were partly people who had mutated as a result of being steeped in “Magic power” for a long time, and had become “demonized”.

It was not usual for a normal person to turn into a Demonic form even if they had been exposed to a lot of magic power. Instead, they would usually show signs of poisoning and die.

However, the peoples of certain regions became Demonized by incorporating certain [Beastly] attributes into their bodies as a result of magic power, creating the [Beastmen].

Animals that had taken in too much magic would Demonize into monsters.

Unlike normal animals, they could increase their powers and lifeforce by taking in more magic, gaining an extreme lifespan.

Those who gained great power would gain “wisdom” in their years, turning into “intelligent monsters” that formed a kind of society.

And then there were the dark elves. It was said that the dark elves were the result of the original High Elves breeding with demonic things.

It was said that when high elves bred with humans they would get white elves, and dark elves were the result of breeding with demons, but it was unverifiable as it happened in ancient myth.

It would certainly be correct to say that dark elves had stronger magic than the white elves, and were of a much more brutal and cunning nature.

However, they were part of the [Darkness] not because of their bad characters, but rather because of their terrible living environments.

They lived north of the northern nation of Gamble. Living spaces were far from each other in those huge mountain ranges, and it was impossible for them to eke out a decent living.

The earth was frozen over by the bitter cold blizzards that devastated the land, and the warm underground was tinged with a powerful dark magic. Seeking what little land and food there was, they had to fight and devour one another.

It was the first “otherworlders” that had suddenly appeared several thousand years ago that had bound them together into the [Forces of Darkness] from a people that only knew strife.

This otherworlder had accidentally drifted into this world after being pulled into the dimensional ripple, and seemed to have also become the first [Hero].

Nobody knows what it was that he had seen or had thought at the time, but the [Hero] seemed to have sympathized with them being trapped underground in that particular way of life, and he wanted to take them all to the “land of light” where the rest of the people lived.

But the [Hero] failed.

He labored under the illusion that they had the same “common sense” from his own knowledge.

If he had abandoned his role as the [Hero], and lived together underground with the [Evil Races] as the [Demon Lord], the story between light and darkness might have been very different.

He had instead pleaded to the “humanity” within those monsters, and tried to form a “republic” based on “equality” with the various tribal chiefs.

And so it came to pass that even though they became the [Forces of Darkness], their fundamental behavior changed little, and all they did was rob people more……

In the end, the hero that had wished for their happiness had their life taken away by those forces.

Still, a tiny bit of the hero’s ideals had been preserved.

At least they were united. But they could not look past the boundaries of race, and eventually formed into the three groups, beastmen, monsters, and dark elves.

Their “equality” took on the worst possible form, becoming a competition to see who could take things away from another by force.

They refused to accept anyone that wasn’t from their own tribe. Even though they could have easily robbed the humans by uniting, they could only think of using each other.

This was especially so for the dark elves, who believed in racial purity and had beautiful forms.

Even though it wasn’t generally true, the powerful amongst them had equally powerful urges, and the nobles held all others in contempt and didn’t think twice about robbing someone else.

And finally, the two youngest princesses of the dark elven royalty.

The black king didn’t care at all for the twins, rather, only the pleasures of life. Their elder siblings constantly warred with one another, never even sparing a look at the twins.

Nefiー who had blue eyes and golden hair.

Rimi ー who had purple eyes and silver hair.

They were abandoned by their caregivers, and struggled to live, and only the first princess Nefertia observed them.

“I-I’m sorry……!”

“…… You failed again?”

As the maid humbled herself to her, Nefertia sighed.

The only decent thing that she’d inherited from parents was her platinum hair ー a combination of her silver-haired father and blonde mother, the first Queen. In contrast, the twins had inherited a split of each from their parents, with the sixth Queen also being blonde.