Chapter 134
Usurpation
Translator : PolterGlast
The regime of the Grust Kingdom, which summoned us to
this other world, is rapidly changing. This is because I brought down the
hammer of justice upon Izel II and the First Princess Misha, who
spearheaded the other-world summoning, giving rise to a new regime with Alicia...
no, Alice, as the new king.
However, no matter how much of an avid reader Alice
is or how wise she is for her age, there will surely be idiots who
underestimate her as a king, seeing as she only received the education of a
princess. Therefore, I decided to stay at the Royal Castle until the
political situation stabilizes, cracking down (physically) on those who attempt
any nefarious plots. From the perspective of someone who has already laid hands
on the king, it no longer matters what some great noble might say (I'm an
invincible man, after all). With me—the guy who literally blasted magic into
the king—around, those with wicked thoughts won't be able to make any careless
moves.
Thus, I intend for Alice to completely drain the
kingdom's pus during this time. To assist her with that, we are temporarily
having the retainers of the Holy Elmoa Empire, ruled by Emilia,
lend a hand and provide guidance regarding the kingdom's restructuring.
Thinking about it carefully, I can't shake the feeling that this counts as
domestic interference. But apparently, the political situation in the Kingdom—which
resorted to Hero Summoning to deflect dissatisfaction over massive
taxes—is incredibly dire, and things won't hold together unless we intervene on
a drastic level. It's a hard mode start to her reign, being burdened with
considerable debt right from the get-go, but I really hope Alice can
somehow revive Grust.
Now, right in the midst of the Grust Kingdom
beginning this dizzying transformation, I had come to a guest room in the Royal
Castle to meet certain individuals. The demon, Lirica tu Baron. She
is a beautiful girl with far too much information packed into her
background—she was summoned to hold peace talks between humans and demons,
poisoned by Izel II at the meeting place, and after various twists and
turns, for some reason, asked to become my disciple. The very fact that a
demon, whose race is at war with humans, went out of her way to come to the Grust
Kingdom was enough to deduce that there were extraordinary circumstances
behind it. However, the story that spilled from the mouth of Lirica-san,
who had called for me, easily surpassed the several scenarios I had anticipated
beforehand.
「Yes, that is because—I must become
the Demon Lord. I must become the Demon Lord before Odd,
who falsely claims the title, and bring order to the Demon Lord's Domain...
Because that is what I promised my father, the previous Demon Lord.」
「...I see.」
I slowly sipped the black tea that had been served while
ruminating on her words. Lirica-san and I had only just met; we weren't
in the kind of relationship where we could exchange jokes. Above all, Lirica-san
had an utterly serious expression, so it didn't seem like I had misheard her.
To align our common sense as a human and a demon, I decided to interject an
icebreaker before getting to the main topic.
「I want to start with the premise,
but is it correct to understand the Demon Territory as the Demon
Lord's Domain?」
「That is incorrect. The lands that
humans recognize as the Demon Lord's Domain are governed as Demon
Territories by different demons... It is similar to the human concept of
cities being ruled by different feudal lords.」
「Among demons, we adopt a system
where the Demon Lord-sama oversees the demons who rule over those
cities. Because for demons, strength is fundamentally absolute justice.」
I see... It seems that the area recognized by humans as the Demon
Lord's Domain isn't entirely under the direct rule of the Demon Lord.
In form, it feels like an indirect rule with strong royal authority. I wonder
if it's similar to an absolute monarchy like in England.
「Thinking about it carefully, that's
only natural. The land humans call the Demon Lord's Domain is far too
vast.」
From the Dragonia Dragon Knight Kingdom in the west
to the Holy Elmoa Empire in the east, the region from which the demons
attack is excessively expansive. If a superpower ruling over all of that
actually existed, the kingdoms and empires would probably have been destroyed
before we even arrived. According to what I've heard from Mitsukawa-kun and Emilia,
the reality is that we are only managing to hold out because the demon invasions
are, for the most part, uncoordinated and sporadic.
「So, I'd like to talk about the Demon
Lord then... First, Lirica-san's father was the previous Demon
Lord, correct?」
「Yes, my father... Kahn tu Baron,
was the previous Demon Lord.」
「Kahn-sama was a deeply merciful king. When he served as the Demon
Lord, he even issued decrees to ensure that demons would not attack humans.」
Priola-san's
eyes sparkled brightly as she spoke about Kahn-san. And Lirica-san,
speaking of her father, also looked somewhat proud. It seems there is no doubt
that Kahn-san was a wonderful figure for the demons.
「Because my father belonged to the Integration
Faction...」
「...Integration Faction?」
「Yes. Broadly speaking, there are
three factions among the demons: the Integration Faction, the Neutral
Faction, and the Subjugation Faction.」
Apparently, demons are divided into factions based on how
they handle humans. The Integration Faction believes they should get
along with humans, while the Neutral Faction couldn't care less either
way and remains uninvolved. And the other one, the Subjugation Faction...
is literally a faction that believes humans should be subjugated as slaves to
the demons. Terrifyingly enough, since ancient times, the largest of the demon
factions has been this Subjugation Faction.
「Eh, then why hasn't humanity been
subjugated by the demons...?」
When I fought one before it was an instant kill, but from
what I recall, demons are quite strong individually, and the consensus was that
you'd need to be considerably skilled to defeat one...?
「That is, of course, because Kahn-sama
boasted overwhelming strength.」
Priola-san
stated that while puffing out her chest. I won't say exactly what it was, but
her black military uniform was stretched incredibly tight. Through sheer force
of will, I averted my gaze from there and asked her to continue the story.
It seems the values of demons are vastly different from
those of humans. If anything, Lirica-san and the others, who are closer
to humans in mindset, appear to be heretics among demons. Many of them seem to
have a muscle-brained "might makes right" way of thinking, and
because of this, many demons look down on humans, viewing the vast majority of
them as small fry. But the one who suppressed them was none other than Lirica's
father, Kahn-san, possessing even more overwhelming power. The title of Demon
Lord isn't a hereditary position either, but rather determined purely by
strength, and it seems Kahn-san was monstrously strong. No one could
raise a complaint in the face of the overwhelming strength of Kahn-san,
who stood at the pinnacle of demons, so interacting with humans through the
mindset of the Integration Faction had been the prevailing trend among
demons for quite a while.
「However, as you can tell from the
fact that I referred to him as the previous lord... my father was
murdered about half a year ago.」
Figuring they couldn't win if they challenged him head-on,
it seems Kahn-san was assassinated using underhanded means. Kahn-san
was poisoned by a subordinate he trusted, and in that weakened state, he was
attacked by demons aiming for his seat. Even so, he fought desperately, and it
sounds like he was just a hair's breadth away from killing those demons.
「Lirica-san's father was seriously insanely strong, wasn't he...」
「Yes, but... I spent the half-year of
time my father bought for us idling away...」
Lirica-san stood
up and turned her back to me. Priola-san gently stroked her back. When
the two turned back to face me, their eyes were slightly red, but I pretended
not to notice.
「And the one who carried out that
assassination was...」
「Odd, the one who is currently falsely claiming the title of Demon Lord.」
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