Chapter 8 - Volume 1 (2/2)

“Wrong choice.”

Without inquiring into the right or wrong, his highness swung his dagger.

The blade stabbed into Andromalius’ throat just like that.

Blood flooding into Andromalius’ windpipe forced him to vomit blood.

“Gua,  guuhaaak……”

“Spare me? That is a terribly boring line. In our already boring lives, that only further tortures us in agony. I see boredom as the sin of humanity, and find it similar to that of a harmful insect that deserves to be exterminated.”

His highness whispered.

It was in such a low volume that only I, who was sitting right besides him, could hear it.

“Next time, come back after practicing better dying words, you third-rate actor.”

“……”

Andromalius shuddered.

Like a doll who had its strings cut, his head fell limp.

Was the last emotion that flashed in his eyes fear, or was it hatred for his highness Dantalian. I thought both options were very much possible.

His highness straightened his back and glanced around the plaza. No one tried to make eye contact with his highness. They were all instinctively trying to avoid his highness’ eyes. Everyone had been consumed by his highness Dantalian’s composed atmosphere.

It was amazing. His highness Dantalian was single-handedly overwhelming this large plaza.

Until now, I had thought that a king’s grandeur was nothing more than an abstract concept. However, after looking at his highness, I understood. His highness had something that could overwhelm the audience.

He was not dominating the citizens with fear. He was not attracting people with prestige. Something much different was lurking……

Why he didn’t show off this ability in the past. How he was enlightened with a tremendous amount of talent after overcoming a life or death situation with the adventurers. The current me could not answer any of this.

However.

“You held on well, Lala.”

“Pardon?”

“My vassal should never thoughtlessly submit to another individual. When you refused to turn your gaze till the very end, despite being hit by Andromalius, I was quite impressed. You are a brilliant woman.”

His highness laughed slyly.

Hearing that light laughter, I thought.

In the end, it was not the wrong choice to serve under his highness.

For the first time today, I was certain.

▯Keuncuska Executive, Miser Goblin, Torukel

Empire Calendar: Year 1505, Month 8, Day 16

Keuncuska Firm Headquarters, Highest floor

The highest floor of the headquarters.

It was a place where only a small handful of executives had access to.

No one else was here in this large room. Only a bunch of coffins were spread out across the room…… At glance, the amount was over thirty.

“Keruk.”

No matter how many times I saw this, it gave me a guilty conscience(?)(TL note: 께름칙하다 not sure how to translate this). Vampires nowadays claimed that coffins were too old-school and did not use them anymore. They all properly slept on beds. Yet again, I realized that Ivar Lodbrok was an old chap who had fallen behind on the times.

It was at the time I had turned my head to read a book.

“—Mr. Torukel.”

“Oh God!”

I jumped in surprise and turned around.

A short witch was smiling back wickedly.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“If you’re here then say so!”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help but want to tease you the moment I saw you, Mr. Torukel.”

“Keruruk, I felt like my heart would drop…… but what’s with that weird way of speech?”

The witch walked in strides towards a black coffin.

If I recalled correctly her name was Beatrice. She was originally a witch that was part of the Berbere Sisters. Several decades ago, after conflicting with Ivar Lodbrok, she was captured by this side. Yesterday, they went out saying that they were going to dig up information on Lapis Lazuli. In other words, act as a spy.

“My way of speech?”

The witch sat on top of the coffin. Her voice may have been coy but her face was all smiles. That pervert. They were most definitely enjoying this situation.

“What about my speech, Mr. Torukel the Miser?”

“It’s disturbing enough that I feel like my stomach is twisting…… jeez. There’s no point in nagging since you won’t listen anyways. Whatever. Tell me about Lapis Lazuli’s movements. You’re back since you were able to gain new information, are you not?”

“Please do not be in such a rush, Mr. Torukel. Men who push women are not popular. Since you’re always like that, that’s why you haven’t had a wife for over a hundred years, .”

“I am voluntarily single!”

The witch burst out in laughter.

Even her laugh was witch-like. This is making me go mad.

“I wonder. There is one important thing I found out. Demon Lord Dantalian had fallen deeper in love with the succubus than we had originally thought. He even brazenly confessed his love for the girl in the middle of Hermes’ Plaza.”

“What?”

“Should I recite what he said word by word? ‘I am a Demon Lord. This youngster is a peasant. Us two are not permitted to be wedded. However, swearing to the Goddess Aphrodite, I, Dantalian, the rank 71st Demon Lord declare my love for this girl.’”

I creased my brows.

To say those kind of lines in a public space, that didn’t make any sense. There was a limit to how foolish a person could be. Even if Dantalian was a dullard who didn’t know shame, would he really do such a thing?

“It’s true. He even killed Andromalius claiming it was for the succubus.”

“Andromalius? Don’t tell me you’re talking about the rank 72nd Demon Lord.”

The witch made a bitter smile.

The fellow told me everything. About how Andromalius was causing a ruckus. How he had insulted the witches and assaulted Lapis Lazuli. And how Dantalian murdered Andromalius……

“Dear god.”

As I listened to the story, my mouth opened wider and wider.

The witch, as if she had understood my feelings, nodded.

“The streets of Niflheim are full of clamor. No matter where you go, people are talking about the love story between Demon Lord Dantalian and the peasant Lapis Lazuli. People are just falling at the feet of forbidden love.”

“This doesn’t make sense. Even if Andromalius was the worst Demon Lord, he was still a Demon Lord by name. It’s not possible to just kill him like that!”

“Regrettably, the public of Niflheim are favoring Dantalian.”

The witch spoke flatly.

“Andromalius spent his time passing through the casinos behaving like a vandal, you already know this. If you excluded his standing, then there was nothing good about him. Obviously, his reputation was the worst. The majority of the citizens are saying that they’re delighted and are even toasting over it.”

“……”

It wasn’t hard to imagine.

Complaints about Andromalius’ despicable antics would come regularly. Even if he’s a Demon Lord isn’t this too severe, does he not need to be restrained, these kind of talk would go over the city council from time to time. To sum it up, he was a headache for everyone.

There was also a fair amount of people who had died from being irrationally beaten by Andromalius. The family of the deceased were most likely praising Dantalian.

“……The timing is too good.

“Yup—”

The witch nodded her chin.

Soon a large meeting for Demon Lords was going to be held. We were planning to attack Dantalian politically there. During the little remaining period of time before the conference, which was now, Dantalian was abruptly able to gain popularity with the people.

“Is this truly a coincidence?”

It was difficult to erase the doubt in my head. We couldn’t be certain that getting rid of Andromalius wasn’t planned. I gave a doubt filled gaze towards the witch.

“I wasn’t able to research that far in. However……”

“However, the chances are high. Is what you’re saying.”

“Yup.”

The witch’s face became serious.

“Dantalian, as soon as Andromalius attacked his lover, used the Cocytus Warning as a pretext. As if he was waiting for it. This is an idea that’s difficult to think of on the spot.”

“Kuuuh.”

Then this wasn’t a murder by chance.

Everyone knew that Andromalius wandered here and there in Niflheim. The places he went to were also limited. The casino, the red-light district, and the bar. These were it. The chances of coming across Andromalius was fairly high. Planning to murder him was not that hard either……

“Don’t you think it’s funny?”

“Keruk? What?”

“For the past several years, no one had tried to stop Andromalius from making a disturbance. Only because he was a Demon Lord. Despite that, Dantalian had killed that troublemaker within 30 minutes of meeting him……”

The witch smiled wryly.

“Andromalius grabbed my hair and pulled it as he pleased. It made me feel like I was some livestock instead of a person. Like a pig you could beat and play around with as you pleased.”

“……”

“It was incredibly insulting.”

The witch’s pupil shined peculiarly.

This fellow clearly harbored hostility against the existence known as Demon Lords.

“He only had a higher status. When that incompetent man with no talent whatsoever pulled at my hair, it felt so unpleasant that I wanted to rip his throat out and……”

“Hey. I’m not disagreeing with your opinion at all, but.”

I spoke carefully.

“Speaking in a logical point of view, Demon Lords aren’t completely talentless. For starters, they’ve mastered the language of Babylon. And are they not able to understand and use every demon language since birth? Furthermore, their political symbolism……”

“I have command over 36 languages of different races.”

“…… I am knowledgeable of this. Anyways, Demon Lords have a religious mystique. To the majority, Demon Lords are the agents of Gods and they are also the greatest of priests.”

“So if someone were to order for a Demon Lord to die, then the one to have ordered the task would die instead?”

The witch laughed mockingly.

“Oh please. Mr. Torukel. Do not think while in the perspective of the people.”

The witch’s tone became solemn and a profound smile formed on her lips.

“The public are nothing more than a group of idiotic and unimaginative people.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to object against that. A group is superior to an individual. Even a hero can’t conquer the continent on their own.”

“So are you saying that we should follow the majority logic and use that to determine what’s right and wrong? Torukel. Our aristocrat miser goblin. That is not a very good tactic in our current situation.”

Taack.

The fellow had snapped their finger.

And immediately after, the sound of a coffin opening up somewhere in the room echoed. With a dreary atmosphere, someone raised their upper body from the black coffin.

It was a girl wearing a servant outfit.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked this way.

The girl smiled coldly and moved her lips.

“Because we are larger in number.”

“……An individual’s opinion can be respected even in a society where majority logic is in common use. It is possible as long as one has even the smallest of refinement and consideration.”

“Oh, do you really think so?”

The servant lightly tapped the back of her hand. Promptly, another black coffin opened up and figure rose.

This time it was a man with the head of a wolf. It was a werewolf. The man growled deeply.

“That is possible when the minority has a decent amount of strength. However, in the demon world which we live in, there are at least over 470 orc tribes while there are only 2 remaining werewolf tribes. If disharmony were to happen between the two races, do you think that the millions of orcs would show consideration to the merely hundreds of werewolves? One could only plead for the orcs to have a decent amount of refinement and consideration.”

“……”

The werewolf whistled.

As soon as he did so, all the remaining coffins opened up at the same time.

Each coffin had one person. A total of 33 personage raised their bodies.

Among them, an old gentlemen approached this way.

“The minority requires strength, Torukel. Especially someone like me, who is in a race with only two other vampires remaining, I have to be more cautious of my surroundings.”

“…… Ivar Lodbrok.”

A sigh came from my mouth.

That was his power as a true vampire and a puppeteer.

The ability to move his conscience to his slaves whenever he pleased.

Ivar Lodbrok had 32 slave dolls. Hence, it was possible for him to do 32 different tasks whenever he wanted. It was a closely guarded secret that only I, among the executives, knew of.

The demon world was currently in control by the Demon Lords. No matter how rich you were, there was always the danger of being purged by the true people in power. That was why a person would have to set up safety precautions. That was what Ivar Lodbrok’s 32 slave dolls were.

Even if a Demon Lord were to threaten us, Ivar Lodbrok could move his conscience around his slaves and stay alive till the very end. That was why Ivar Lodbrok hid these dolls in absolute secrecy. A secret that Demon Lords must not know.

……Although, seeing the way he behaved, it felt like half the reason he did it was because it was a hobby.

“Hm. Everything seems to be fine.”

Ivar, with a satisfied air around him, patted the dust off of his body.

“I was worried that a problem might occur because it had been a long time since I had moved my conscience around. I couldn’t be more refreshed.”

“That is a relief. After I was forced to witness an old man act like a young girl, my eye sockets and earholes ended up rotting. I mean, why are you so adept at copying how a little girl talks?”

Ivar Lodbrok raised his shoulders.

“What am I supposed to do when the conscience is affected by the body?”

Ivar shrugged.

“I request for you to understand, Torukel. In order to deceive the Berbere Sisters, acting is essential. They still do not know that Beatrice was taken by me.”

“Okay, that’s fine for the witches. But why did you have to behave like a girl and add honorifics while in front of me?”

“Of course, to enjoy watching your facial expression rot whenever I used honorifics.”

“Then it was your hobby!”

Ivar let out a laugh.

After laughing for a period of time, he became serious.

“…… Torukel. Think carefully. Even if they were to kill Andromalius, Demon Lord Dantalian gets no profit.”

“What?”

“For a short, short period of time he will receive popularity from the citizens. But if you looked at it long-term, then the loss is going to be tremendous. The fact that he had taken an outcast as a lover will remain as a smudge and continue to dirty his reputation. In conclusion, his political life will be shortened. He will be choking his own neck.”

I creased my brows.

“Then why did Dantalian kill Andromalius?”

Ivar shook his head side to side.

“Think bigger, Torukel.”

“Bigger?”

“In this incident, there is one person who would get an absolute gain. It is not Andromalius. It is not Dantalian either.”

“……?”

It was a puzzle like statement.

Andromalius and Dantalian had clashed. Both sides did not gain any profit. Who here could…… aah. Was that it, was that what it was!

“Lapis Lazuli!”

My voice became louder on its own.

“Thanks to this affair, this was no different from Lapis Lazuli being officially accepted as the lover of a Demon Lord!”

“That is so. That succubus girl is the only one to take any gains.”

Ivar nodded.

“That girl had probably instructed Dantalian beforehand, that if Andromalius was to try and start a quarrel with them, then to use the Coctyus Warning as a pretext then murder him. Since Dantalian had fallen so deeply for that succubus, he would have more than gladly complied. And as they had planned, they encountered Andromalius……”

I couldn’t believe it.

“Then, Lapis Lazuli did all that purely to only increase her own status……?”

“Indeed. She had played with two Demon Lords. Dantalian, of course, and Andromalius had probably unknowingly got swept away in her plot.”

“What a ludicrous woman……”

I could feel my own voice trembling.

In contrast, Ivar muttered as if he was having fun.

“Is it not magnificent? A short time ago, that succubus was nothing more than a merchant. However, she was able to obtain a large loan from our firm by fooling us, she was able to put Dantalian on her side, and now she was able to get rid of Andromalius……”

“……”

“I am genuinely touched. This succubus is like the embodiment of lust for power. For such a girl to have been born, this world is truly worth living.”

Ivar looked straight at me.

“Torukel. Our opponent is formidable. That succubus girl is competent enough to overcome her own wall of social status. She is cold-hearted and merciless.”

“……”

“But she has yet to past being anything more than a frail schemer. Lapis Lazuli’s position comes from Dantalian. If we purge Dantalian, then she would no longer be the lover of a Demon Lord or anything else. She would only be an arrogant outcast.”

That was an accurate call.

If you wanted to go for an admiral, then shoot the horse first.

Lapis Lazuli was currently on the horse known as Dantalian and was rushing forward with spirit. If you tied down Dantalian’s feet, then naturally her spirit will be cut as well.

“With no mistake. You have to tear them apart…… can you do this?”

“It’s okay to have my vow. Her highness Paimon has also completely agreed with our plan. If a one to ten thousand situation was to occur, then I will take all the responsibility.”

I stared back at Ivar Lodbrok seriously.

Once I did so, Ivar Lodbrok nodded.

Without asking who was going to start first, we recited the vow pledge.

“Oh great Keuncuska—”

“You shall repay blood with blood.”

This was a saying of our firm that boasted 400 years of history. In other words, we were shouldering 400 years of pride on this large meeting. Losing was unpardonable.

Lapis Lazuli. You may be an impressive heroine, but you are still a young sprout. We shall step on you thoroughly.

TL note: Chapter 4 is complete! It was shorter than the other chapters. And oh dear God, I think Chapter 5 is the longest chapter. Not by a lot, but it’s still the longest.

Honestly, translating parts that aren’t a pov of Dantalian or Lala is pretty tiring. I just get less enthusiastic about it. So the Torukel POV part took a bit longer than what I anticipated.

Also, once again, I’d like to mention that our Discord group for Dungeon Defense is very much active. Drop by and chat with everyone here. It’s great being able to get immediate feedback from you guys over there while I’m translating. So like, go join it, or something.

Oh, I might slow a SMALL bit down in translations. My brain feels like it’s going numb from all this non-stop translations and I haven’t been really able to properly enjoy myself.