Chapter 134
Usurpation
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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