Volume 8, Chapter 22: The Demon’s Trap, Part 2

“Lady Yurushia, news has come from Butler Noa and Ser Nea.”

I raised my head at Geas’ voice as he brought me steamed potatoes instead of my usual afternoon snacks as I plowed through the mountain of incomprehensible doc.u.ments with my potato stamp.

“nn…? Is there an issue with plan’s progress?”

“Nothing of that sort. But they said that the Hero of Fire Minkichi has been defeated in battle.”

“Heeh…… that’s very early.”

I’d certainly ordered Noa to do that, but I’d thought that it would take him longer than that.

“We did plant information that Minkichi and the Beastmen were in a conspiracy, but apparently Kyoji used that information to make it seem as if she had betrayed humanity.”

“Kyoji, huh.”

Well, I think that’s all for him.

“But weren’t those three heroes the ones who were all accomplices in murdering the ex-Hero of Wind, Yuuki? Betraying an accomplice again like that has to be dangerous.”

“It was quite a blitzkrieg, so I think they beat her down too quickly. Still, Minkichi seems to have escaped, but the Hero of Earth Kanzo has entered the battle and seems to be in pursuit.”

“I see.”

Through Noa, I had given Kan-chan the potion to produce [Magic Gems].

I thought that it would be interesting if Kyoji or Minkichi took advantage of the tumultuous battlefield, but Kan-chan seems to have taken this opportunity to legally kill Minkichi.

That is, if that was a drug that really produced [Magic Gems]……

“What’s the battlefield situation?”

“The Beastmen army was somewhat destroyed by the combined forces of the Dark Elves and Kyoji, who are allied now. The general of the beastmen was killed, and their remaining forces have been absorbed into the Dark Elves’. However, the betrayal of one of the heroes of mankind has sown confusion into the human forces, and now that Kanzo isn’t there anymore, Kyoji has taken to the front.”

“……I guess the hour is approaching?”

“It seems to be so.”

Tina and Fannie popped up with the costume, stuffing their mouths with the remaining steamed potatoes.

“Milady, please.”

“Yes.”

Even though I call it a costume, it’s really just a black wig that’s long enough for it to touch and drag on the floor.

“Fannie, could you guide Minkichi and Kan-chan to that place? Tina, let Onzada-kun know.”

“Yes~”

“I hear and obey.”

“Well then, I guess it’s time to start doing the work of a [Demon Lord]?”

All of the Demons in [Paradise Lost] began to move at my word.

Although nearly 3000 Demons had been going all out in their work, there were still more than a thousand [Greater Demons] here.

After all, even the part-timers’ wages weren’t something to sneeze at, I couldn’t have all of my regular full-timers work as much as I’d like.

“Geas!”

[GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!]

In response to my magic power, Geas transformed from a human into his original [Demon Beast Behemoth] form. ……… That’s a surprisingly huge reaction at being forced to transform again.

Tina and Fannie opened the doors of [Paradise Lost], and over 1000 [Greater Demons] and the mountain-like [Behemoth] leapt into the battlefield of the human world again.

…… after so long, I finally see the yellow sunlight again.

* * *

“……It’s the Demon Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The battlefield was swept with fear and confusion when it appeared.

The Hero of Fire had betrayed them and the Hero of Earth was absent.

As if mocking their efforts to preserve the delicate balance, the Demon army rushed forth, and an enormous beast trampled over the battlefield.

However, the people feared the lone girl on top of that mountainous beast more than either the thousands of Demons or even the gigantic beast itself.

The Black Saint, who looked down upon them with a cold beauty from atop the head of the beast……

They were crushed by terror from the overpowering fear emanating from the true [Demon Lord].

“Do not be afraid! Yuru-chan has not yet fallen!”

But there was the voice of a girl that echoed across the battlefield.

Black of hair and eye. As the little girl named Mizuki called out, voices across the battlefield answered her call.

“Rescue our Saint!”

“Demon Lord, release the Saint!”

The vast majority were all the sorliers and militiamen, but because of their sheer number, their momentum seemingly pushed the Demon Army away from them.

Then, the deserters who were trying to run for their lives returned to march with them, leaving the command of their original armies.

Of course, there were those who didn’t care.

“Who is that human!”

Nefertia slammed down her cup of fruit liquor, watching the battle from the back of her riding dragon.

It was all going so well.

Conspiring with one of the human heroes, Kyoji, they had succeeded in a.s.sa.s.sinating each others’ political opponents.

She’d even come to an agreement with Kyoji to continue a stable state of war after they defeated the Demon Lord.

It was the [Hero] that would become redundant if the war disappeared, and because the royal Dark Elves would be in trouble with nothing to pillage, in a certain way, they could trust each other more than their allies.

But if they couldn’t defeat that [Demon Lord]it would all be for naught.

For that reason, they had a.s.sembled their armies together on this side of the battlefield, not intending to use it at all until they were sure of victory.

“Kill that screaming girl on the battlefield. Do it now.”

“Y-yes!”

Kyoji had the same idea as well.

His purpose was different from Nefertia, but he saw Mizuki and her companions as a hindrance, and had tried having her a.s.sa.s.sinated multiple times, but all of his plans about her had been ruined by the attendants of the Saints.

“……You obstruct my plans no matter where you are”

When that obstructive [Saint] that he had hated for so long fell to evil, and became that [Demon Lord], it was out of his expectations, but he laughed from the bottom of his heart at the opportunity to be rid of her.

However, even after that Saint became such a thing, she still hindered his plans.

As he was about to rise to take action personally, one of Kyoji’s subordinates came up to report.

“What’s the matter?”

“His Highness Fjord has come. There is something he wishes to directly tell you.”

“His Highness? Here?”

Kyoji, who was kept his emotions well-schooled, asked.

Some of the countries had their leaders personally taking the charge, but he highly doubted that Sail would let a 10-year-old boy who was first in line for the throne out here.

Perhaps His Royal Highness who favored Lady Yurushia had suppressed the opposition from his surroundings and come, aided by his sister Bianca.

“Is that so……”

The corners of Kyoji’s mouth curled upwards, but the smile never reached his eyes.

It was one of those plans that he never expected to come to fruition from the beginning, but if he played his cards right, it might be possible to be rid of that Mizuki girl, His Highness, and Yurushia together.

Then he could get all of the wealth, fame, and status of this world, and push ahead with his plan.

“Then, accompany His Highness. Treat him with utmost courtesy.”

“Yes.”

“Lord Kyoji!”

And then, one of the soldiers rushed into the Kyoji’s frontline tent.

“What’s the matter?”

“Th-the Demon forces, they’re attacking us all at once!”

What had happened? How had it happened? As if ignoring the front-line soldiers, the Demons rushed straight for Kyoji’s headquarters.

Certainly, he had been told that they would hit his army, but, Kyoji had taken advantage of the information and used it to lay blame upon the beastman army, even labelling them as traitors.

As if they had a grudge against Kyoji, when the soldiers heard that the attack was coming for them again, Kyoji’s subordinates began to lose their composure.

“Kyoji!”

“Your Highness.”

And as if by Murphy’s Law, Fjord arrived.

“Your Highness, it’s dangerous here. Please, retreat with me.”

“What is this talk! Lady Yurushia has been brainwashed by the enemy. Are you going to do nothing and run as a Hero?”

“……haah”

Kyoji frowned slightly at His Highness’ demands to save the fallen Black Saint, asking himself who had planted those words into the prince’s head.

“If you say so, Your Highness. I heard you had a message for me.”

“Ah, that’s right. It is a message from my sister. It says that the heroes are headed towards that place…… that’s all it said, so I wonder what it’s about?”

“…………”

Kyoji fell silent at the unexpected contents of the letter.

Bianca had a certain amount of knowledge as his accomplice in stealing from the country. But even then, he had never told her anything concrete about his plans, and Bianca’s role in Kyoji’s plan was merely as the necessary [Bloodline] for taking over Sail.

How was she able to learn that information about the heroes going to [That Place] while she was back in the country?

“Your Highness…… When did you hear this message?”

“Eh? It was this morning beside the magic storm. My sister wanted to call me with the magic tool, but it seems that the surrounding magic was so chaotic that she couldn’t make the call.”

“Is that so……”

He would have liked to be able to ask her directly, but as Fjord said, ever since the [Demon Lord] had appeared, a storm of magic power had surrounded the region, and the communications magics they used was almost unusable on the battlefield.

It was highly doubtful, but if the two of them were really headed there, it would put all of Kyoji’s plans in jeopardy.

(…… the time has come).

Just like he betrayed his master back on Terra, Kyoji made the quick decision to throw humanity away, and corrected the plan in his head.

The fame and status of being a hero was something that he sought, but from where he was now, that was a mere blip on the map.

In any case, it was only going to be a matter of time before he was overwhelmed by the Demon forces, and that result just wasn’t interesting, plus it wasn’t such a bad time, either.

“Well then, Your Highness. Could I have you persuade Lady Yurushia?”

“Yes, of course!”

Kyoji then used the prince as a decoy and left the battlefield with a few subordinates.

Their objective was the center of power for the forces of Darkness. The ancient castle in the middle of the giant cavern.

As the three [Heroes] left the battlefield, the dark forces and humans who had been abandoned were pushed back by the Demon army and put into a spot of trouble.

At this point, it was no longer the generals of the country who were supporting this decimated army, but the forces that were trying to save the Saint, centered around Mizuki and her companions, who were being gradually driven into a corner.

Would the human armies be brought down by the hands of the Demons?

However, before the end could come someone appeared to lead the armies to rescue them from this crisis. It was the twin Dark Elven princesses, who had been forgotten on this battlefield, and were the original occupying forces of this country.

Author’s Notes:

The war is almost over now.

Next time, the decisive battle between the [Hero] and the [Demon]…… will begin?