CH 209
#5 Their circumstances: Atia nel Karuan’s circumstance
“What did you say? The demon king has appeared?”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
I tilted my head in confusion at the report made by the dispatch rider who had made an urgent trip to my office. I turned my head to Reia and asked her. “Reia, I thought Ast was the demon king?”
“Could it be that Sir Ast finally understood your heart and decided to come back to us?”
“What, that Ast? No way.”
Reia must’ve said that to make me feel better, but I was too aware of our reality. That guy, Ast, would do everything in his power to avoid me until the day I died and was reborn. Still…
“Well, that did make me feel better, so thanks, Reia.”
“I’m honoured, Your Highness.”
Even though it was nothing more than an empty talk, I still felt better.
“Your Highness… The Kingdom of Mareid has been annihilated. The epicentre of the calamity, the kingdom’s capital, has been wiped out of the map. Even the nearby cities could not avoid complete and utter destruction, ma’am. According to the report, the influx of refugees is overwhelming the neighbouring nations.”
What Reia said ensured the office’s atmosphere would be more relaxed, but the dispatch rider didn’t seem to want to let that happen. He frowned as if to say now wasn’t the time, then spat out a report that contained threatening and urgent matters.
“So what?”
…If your kingdoms happen to be located in the north, that was!
The dispatch rider looked stunned. “I’m sorry, Your Highness?”
“This crisis is unfolding in the northern kingdoms, right? So, they should be solving it with their powers.”
“B-but, ma’am! This is the demon king we’re talking about! The abominable demon king that worships the Evil God!”
“Yes, I’m aware. I’m well aware that you’re talking about the demon king that brings destruction to our world.”
Throughout history, demon kings borrowing the Evil God’s powers had appeared several times. They went on to destroy many kingdoms, and the strongest demon king of them even almost wiped out an entire species, too.
“However, they were stopped eventually.”
“Y-Your Highness…”
I waved my hand and dismissed the dispatch rider. I already knew what he wanted to say, anyway. And that would be, “All of humanity must work together to stop the Evil God’s fragment.”
And that the world’s strongest nation, the Karuan Empire, must become the centre of this united force. In my view, that was…
“…Utter dogsh*t, I say.”
“Your Highness… Again…!” Reia frowned deeply and began badmouthing Ast. “Your Highness, such scandalous turn of words should be left to Sir Ast. If people learned that someone as noble as you were using such vulgar words…!”
“What will happen if they learn, I wonder?”
Reia’s nagging had gotten worse as she got older, so I must be quick with shutting her down.
#6 Their circumstances: Reia lil Areis’s circumstance
Right after my discussion with Her Highness, I went to deliver her intentions to the Saint of the Order of Nature, Hill Shuttle, and his companion, Selena the Elf. Then, I assigned 100 of our finest to accompany them on their quest to appreh… Ahem, I mean, to reunite with Hero Swinn.
Basically, their new situation was not that different from the house arrest they had been under for the past couple of years. Even then, the two of them readily accepted our offer. And they remained just as accommodating even after I told them we had ulterior motives for accompanying them.
The Saint explained that the Goddess of Nature had given him an oracle. And in that oracle, the hero might turn his back on the world and run away somewhere. So, they needed to stop him before that happened.
In other words, our interests aligned rather nicely.
On the same day of our discussion, the Saint and the 100 ‘guards’ departed from the empire’s capital with enough supplies. A few days later, I received a report saying that Hero Swinn had been found on some nameless mountain range.
Considering Sir Ast’s training regime… This was rather fast. However, this result proved once and for all that you couldn’t escape from the eyes of the gods unless you were right next to the Evil God’s fragment or on the demon continent where the divine influence held no sway.
The hero seemed to have put up quite a struggle, but the 100 ‘guards’ I sent along did their jobs splendidly. Hero Swinn had defeated an elder dragon all by himself, but outsmarting 100 summoners from Yugrasia was still a step too far for him.
The report went on to state that the captured hero was tortu… nope, not that, but threa… Oops, not that one either, was requested to divulge everything that had happened on the demon continent.
Hero Swinn apparently sang like a canary and spat out every little piece of information he knew.
“That’s surprising…” While organising the new influx of information, I discovered a surprising bit of news. “Team Leader Mirua was captured, too? I guess we shouldn’t underestimate the demon continent’s capabilities.”
Even I couldn’t see through Team Leader Mirua’s depths of talent. She was the core member of the Kidnap Ast Squad with skills to prove her worth, yet she still got captured!
She hadn’t been making her reports lately, so I figured that glutton must’ve relocated beyond the reach of magic transmission just to find a new diner or something. But the truth was far grimmer than that. Sir Ast had already captured her and was using that poor girl as a slave!
“Should we consider dispatching more operatives into the demon continent…?”
A defensive fortress wall was being erected on the border of the demon continent, and there were now hundreds of new demon kings instead of the usual one. Not only that, even the one and only Team Leader Mirua got captured by them! Did we have someone talented enough to infiltrate a place like that?
“…This isn’t a problem that I can decide alone, anyway.”
I organised the report into more digestible summaries and headed to Her Highness’s office. After lightly knocking on the door, I spoke to the lady-in-waiting beyond the doorway, then stepped inside the office.
Her Highness welcomed me in. “Good day, Reia. You’re a little late than usual.”
“Ma’am. The report from our agents dispatched to accompany the hero has arrived. They have secured him without encountering any problems.”
“The power of a goddess is rather convenient, isn’t it? To think we can find someone so quickly.”
“What did you say? The demon king has appeared?”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
I tilted my head in confusion at the report made by the dispatch rider who had made an urgent trip to my office. I turned my head to Reia and asked her. “Reia, I thought Ast was the demon king?”
“Could it be that Sir Ast finally understood your heart and decided to come back to us?”
“What, that Ast? No way.”
Reia must’ve said that to make me feel better, but I was too aware of our reality. That guy, Ast, would do everything in his power to avoid me until the day I died and was reborn. Still…
“Well, that did make me feel better, so thanks, Reia.”
“I’m honoured, Your Highness.”
Even though it was nothing more than an empty talk, I still felt better.
“Your Highness… The Kingdom of Mareid has been annihilated. The epicentre of the calamity, the kingdom’s capital, has been wiped out of the map. Even the nearby cities could not avoid complete and utter destruction, ma’am. According to the report, the influx of refugees is overwhelming the neighbouring nations.”
What Reia said ensured the office’s atmosphere would be more relaxed, but the dispatch rider didn’t seem to want to let that happen. He frowned as if to say now wasn’t the time, then spat out a report that contained threatening and urgent matters.
“So what?”
…If your kingdoms happen to be located in the north, that was!
The dispatch rider looked stunned. “I’m sorry, Your Highness?”
“This crisis is unfolding in the northern kingdoms, right? So, they should be solving it with their powers.”
“B-but, ma’am! This is the demon king we’re talking about! The abominable demon king that worships the Evil God!”
“Yes, I’m aware. I’m well aware that you’re talking about the demon king that brings destruction to our world.”
Throughout history, demon kings borrowing the Evil God’s powers had appeared several times. They went on to destroy many kingdoms, and the strongest demon king of them even almost wiped out an entire species, too.
“However, they were stopped eventually.”
“Y-Your Highness…”
I waved my hand and dismissed the dispatch rider. I already knew what he wanted to say, anyway. And that would be, “All of humanity must work together to stop the Evil God’s fragment.”
And that the world’s strongest nation, the Karuan Empire, must become the centre of this united force. In my view, that was…
“…Utter dogsh*t, I say.”
“Your Highness… Again…!” Reia frowned deeply and began badmouthing Ast. “Your Highness, such scandalous turn of words should be left to Sir Ast. If people learned that someone as noble as you were using such vulgar words…!”
“What will happen if they learn, I wonder?”
Reia’s nagging had gotten worse as she got older, so I must be quick with shutting her down.
#6 Their circumstances: Reia lil Areis’s circumstance
Right after my discussion with Her Highness, I went to deliver her intentions to the Saint of the Order of Nature, Hill Shuttle, and his companion, Selena the Elf. Then, I assigned 100 of our finest to accompany them on their quest to appreh… Ahem, I mean, to reunite with Hero Swinn.
Basically, their new situation was not that different from the house arrest they had been under for the past couple of years. Even then, the two of them readily accepted our offer. And they remained just as accommodating even after I told them we had ulterior motives for accompanying them.
The Saint explained that the Goddess of Nature had given him an oracle. And in that oracle, the hero might turn his back on the world and run away somewhere. So, they needed to stop him before that happened.
In other words, our interests aligned rather nicely.
On the same day of our discussion, the Saint and the 100 ‘guards’ departed from the empire’s capital with enough supplies. A few days later, I received a report saying that Hero Swinn had been found on some nameless mountain range.
Considering Sir Ast’s training regime… This was rather fast. However, this result proved once and for all that you couldn’t escape from the eyes of the gods unless you were right next to the Evil God’s fragment or on the demon continent where the divine influence held no sway.
The hero seemed to have put up quite a struggle, but the 100 ‘guards’ I sent along did their jobs splendidly. Hero Swinn had defeated an elder dragon all by himself, but outsmarting 100 summoners from Yugrasia was still a step too far for him.
The report went on to state that the captured hero was tortu… nope, not that, but threa… Oops, not that one either, was requested to divulge everything that had happened on the demon continent.
Hero Swinn apparently sang like a canary and spat out every little piece of information he knew.
“That’s surprising…” While organising the new influx of information, I discovered a surprising bit of news. “Team Leader Mirua was captured, too? I guess we shouldn’t underestimate the demon continent’s capabilities.”
Even I couldn’t see through Team Leader Mirua’s depths of talent. She was the core member of the Kidnap Ast Squad with skills to prove her worth, yet she still got captured!
She hadn’t been making her reports lately, so I figured that glutton must’ve relocated beyond the reach of magic transmission just to find a new diner or something. But the truth was far grimmer than that. Sir Ast had already captured her and was using that poor girl as a slave!
“Should we consider dispatching more operatives into the demon continent…?”
A defensive fortress wall was being erected on the border of the demon continent, and there were now hundreds of new demon kings instead of the usual one. Not only that, even the one and only Team Leader Mirua got captured by them! Did we have someone talented enough to infiltrate a place like that?
“…This isn’t a problem that I can decide alone, anyway.”
I organised the report into more digestible summaries and headed to Her Highness’s office. After lightly knocking on the door, I spoke to the lady-in-waiting beyond the doorway, then stepped inside the office.
Her Highness welcomed me in. “Good day, Reia. You’re a little late than usual.”
“Ma’am. The report from our agents dispatched to accompany the hero has arrived. They have secured him without encountering any problems.”
“The power of a goddess is rather convenient, isn’t it? To think we can find someone so quickly.”
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