Chapter 160 - Volume 8 (1/2)
Volume 8, Chapter 18: Demon Lord, Part 1
A few days have passed since the golden saint disappeared.
However, the only people who were in a real panic were some of the officials from Sail, who were upset that they were unable to use the leverage of having both the [Hero] and the [Saint] as billboards to push their own agendas, and the general soldiery. Otherwise, it seemed that everything was calm… at least on the surface.
At first, the retinue of the Saint and her young followers were in a flurry of activity searching for her, but as time went on, the other countries present all began to move behind the scenes to try to draw them into their own nations.
It was clear that the battle lines weren’t tense enough.
After all, it wasn’t the first time that a human-controlled region had fallen to the forces of darkness in history.
The forces of darkness weren’t as powerful as those of the light, and no matter what special circumstances happened in the past, the occupied areas had always been recaptured in about half a year.
To those humans who were in the upper class, it felt more like a board game.
Even when they attacked, they wouldn’t chase them too far in. And whenever they attacked, they would retreat quickly.
Because of the long history behind this war, it had become something like a “strategy game” where the outcome could be predicted to some extent from the outset.
Each and every one of them moved not for victory, but under their own speculations.
Each country that had participated in the war had already begun moving to shape the post-war period and were having little skirmishes with each other to improve their own war contributions.
There were a lot more that were wounded because of that than because of the actual war, which benefitted the forces of darkness, but the forces of darkness were also doing the same thing.
The occupying force, eerily enough, hadn’t moved much at all, barring a few extremists, but in their home base of the great cavern, a massive army that numbered greater than a million was on the move.
However, this entire force hadn’t been moved to reinforce the occupying army, nor had it been assembled to invade another human state to take advantage of their carelessness. No, it was moved purely on the speculation of a single Princess.
“How long has it been……”
“It’s been about two days.”
“We’re running late. Move the plan forward by half a day.”
Nefertia, First Princess of the dark elves, issued her orders while she rode upon the back of an Earth Dragon, whilst sweat beaded upon her knight and foster sister’s forehead.
It would be appropriate to have called this a death march.
It was impossible to move this huge army of Dark Elves, beastmen, and monsters without being noticed by the human powers or the other forces of darkness.
Moreover, because this army had been assembled impromptu by Nefertia through her charm and guile, it was a ragtag army that didn’t coordinate well with each other.
Nonetheless, Nefertia had a reason to rush.
“…… those children are still alive.”
Nefertia bit her nails when her ladies-in-waiting could not see.
The twins who had been exiled to the human state with the Second Prince of the beastmen, who ought to have died, were still alive. They had also easily occupied the human nation with ease, suffering close to no losses to their armies.
Just how had they done it? How had they managed to assemble such a fearsome officer corps and army?
The beastman prince was a child too, and not much different from the twins. So why were all these officers and soldiers following the orders of these child royals who were only commanders in name?
Whatever the reason was, what was true was that the twins had defeated a human nation.
Nefertia had entrapped her brothers in her efforts to become king.
It was good that the first and second princes died when they fell for her plots, but the twins that seemed like they were favored by the current king survived.
Her father might have been happy with her otherwise.
Nefertia had only tried to get rid of the twins as a “just in case” measure.
If they were able to distinguish themselves with war merit, though, it was entirely possible that their father might once again turn his eyes towards the two of them.
To prevent this potential threat from arising, Nefertia had to kill them.
And so, she set out to get rid of them.
As soon as possible. No more acting through others, but by her own hand this time.
For Nefertia, the war with the humans was nothing more than a game being played for their self-satisfaction.
She had only one ambition. It was to ascend to the throne, subjugate all of the other races, and then reign supreme, obeyed by all.
“…… Half a day is not enough. It has to be faster……kyaa!?”
The sudden jolt of the earth shocked Nefertia into screaming.
“Princess, are you hurt?”
“WHAT HAPPENED!?”
As a maid rushed up to her, Nefertia shouted out impatiently even as she heard a shriek coming from a good distance away.
*
The Hero of Wind, who hadn’t yet arrived, and the other three heroes, had all begun to move for their own goals.
The first to move was the hero of flame, Minkichi.
What she wanted most was “enjoyment”. Although, in her case, it was paired with the “anxiety” of being abandoned by the world that stuck deep in her heart.
“Hyahahahahaha! Kill! Screw them!!! “
It wasn’t a very hero-like remark, but that was about par for Hero Minkichi.
Minkichi had secretly bet that it would serve as a form of “inspiration” for the soldiers to scream like this if all the violence was only being directed at the enemy.
On the battlefield, a crazed warrior would sometimes be honored as a hero.
Especially given that there was no [Saint] about now that needed to be protected, for all of those soldiers who had fought up to the very limit of their spirits, Minkichi would look like a battle maiden.
Minkichi understood that some fame was necessary to push out the unease she’d been suppressing.
Her supposed purpose was to gain fame enough to act however she wished, but she covertly had wanted to kill off that annoying [Saint]’s “followers” she had brought along while making it look like it was just a normal fight between them.
Since Minkichi couldn’t go all out in that tiny castle, she wanted to kill off that little girl Fannie who had humiliated her and taken away all the people Minkichi had brought with her to harass the Saint.
And so, for the first time, Minkichi felt better. …… And if she was right, the other two heroes would also be feeling the same way.
Minkichi had originally intended to shave away at the power of the Hero of Water and the Hero of Earth, even to the point of treating her previous objectives as mere fronts.
They were heroes, existences who had been tied together by fighting together, and as accomplices who had killed one of their companions.
Minkichi intended for not only the hero parties, but also their support units, to die in this war.
“……Fufu, what an idiot”
Besides Minkichi then there were those people who kept hiding below ground and followed her.
The hero of Earth, Kanzo, and her party.
The battleground that had been ravaged by gunpowder and magic was of an equal size to the Hero of Earth’s domain.
Kanzo spread out her power evenly over the entirety of the battlefield, and by molding the softened earth, she stripped the enemy of their mobility and achieved great war merit.
However, Kanzo did not discriminate in this current battleground. Even if it disadvantaged the human forces, who should have been allies, it wasn’t worthwhile for her to do such unflashy things on this spectacular stage where all of the other heroes were rampaging about.
She and Minkichi were polar opposites, and yet their reasons were similar.
They did it for the fame. If it didn’t earn fame, don’t do it. It’s just that.
Kanzo followed behind Minkichi while hiding underground.
It was all to get the best magic gem possible.
When the battlefield would be exhausted, where nobody’s eyes would reach. But until that scene, she came quietly……
Kanzo’s pastime was living like a young maiden.
“There’s no problem at all. Please keep monitoring.”
“““Yes”””