○ Lesser Demon King Melvis’s Country
Some time earlier, in Melvis’s throne room.
It was before Farneze was to leave in order to hunt down Kyuka.
After receiving the order from Melvis, Farneze immediately had her subordinates prepare for departure.
Once preparations were finished, she went to Melvis in order to make a report.
As it so happened, this would be when Farneze would fill Melvis in on some of the events he had missed recently.
She had already given him a general picture, and so all that remained were the little details.
Melvis listened to her with a look of disinterest.
“My journal.”
It was only when she talked about the stolen journal, that Melvis’s voice started to contain a hint of curiosity.
“Yes. Just one volume was stolen…”
Farneze explained to him. ‘I see,’ Melvis nodded.
“And that was the volume where I wrote about my evolution.”
“Yes. We realized this by looking at the volume before and after.”
“And this Nehyor. He is a Vampire.”
“As you say.”
Farneze was terribly anxious.
She had seen Melvis fall into a fit of rage before. There could be another purge.
While it had not been her fault that the book was stolen, he was her subordinate.
And sometimes the superior officer had to take responsibility.
“Do you know what a Vampire requires in order to evolve?”
Surprisingly, his voice was calm.
“No. I have not heard about it.”
“I see… Well, even if you did know, the requirements would be too difficult to complete.”
Currently, Melvis was the only Elder Vampire in the whole Demon World.
Aside from Nehyor, who had stolen the journal, he was the only person who knew the requirements.
“What are they?”
It wasn’t as if Farneze had no curiosity.
“You need a life stone that is no longer releasing holy power.”
“A life stone? But I heard that if you touch one, the holy power will eat away at your body.”
The life stone that was inside residents of the Celestial World.
If residents of the Demon World touched it, they would suffer the same symptoms as if they had touched holy power.
Farneze recalled something.
Weren’t life stones that had been emptied of holy power supposed to turn into clumps of salt and fall apart?
“I see that you do not know. I suppose it’s because there haven’t been many invasions from the Celestial World.”
According to Melvis, it was true that life stones turned into salt when they were emptied of holy power.
However, that was only if it happened gradually, over a long period of time.
If you removed it in a short amount of time, you would have a life stone that retains its shape.
“I only discovered it by accident. You can use an Orb of Control of the same power to neutralize it. The holy power and mana erase each other. And by taking it into my body, I was able to evolve.”
“How…astonishing.”
So, you needed an Orb of Control that was of equal strength.
If it was too strong, the life stone would lose and turn into salt. And if it was too weak, then nothing would happen.
And in order to turn into an elder, you needed one that was from a Demon King at the very least.
“Fulfilling those requirements wpuld be very difficult. Especially without any invasion from the Celestial World.”
“Indeed.”
She had known that Nehyor was trying to evolve into an Elder.
And now she knew how he would be able to do it.
He needed a life stone and Orb of Control that were at the level of a Demon King.
And if you had enough mana, you just had to take them inside of your body, and then you could evolve.
“The Demon King’s Orb of Control would be the easy part.”
Only someone like Melvis would think like that.
Yes, for someone like Farneze, killing a Demon King was like a distant dream.
If it was so easy, then others would be doing it.
(So, how was Nehyor going to acquire one?)
It was odd.
While it wasn’t impossible for a Lesser Demon King to defeat a Demon King, it would be very difficult.
Obviously, it depended on your traits and the situation, but even then, the chances would be very low.
It was a risky game to play.
“I see… So he’ll target someone who has just become a Demon King.”
Out of the eight Demon Kings, who was the weakest?
Farneze wasn’t sure, but they would still be stronger than Nehyor.
And so it would probably be better for him to target someone who was just about to go from Lesser Demon King to Demon King.
“If he’s going to create a Demon King in order to defeat one, a cluster of small countries would be a good place to target.”
Melvis said, clearly thinking the same thing.
Farneze nodded.
There were many small countries in the Demon World. But not many places where they were all close together.
“He’ll make a Demon King of Kyuka, and then devour him…”
When he said this, Farneze felt like she was assaulted by an indescribable chill.
Creating a Demon King to devour. It was tremendously audacious.
“But acquiring the Orb of Control won’t mean anything without the life stone.”
Farneze was about to nod, but then she remembered something.
(Now that I think about it, according to Golan’s report, there had been an invasion in Tralzard’s town…)
And for some reason, the life stone was not recovered.
No one in the Demon World would want to touch such a thing.
They were not curious about something that was toxic for their bodies. And yet it had disappeared…
“It’s possible that he has already acquired the life stone.”
“Even if he has, there isn’t much he can do.”
Melvis still did not seem to think there was a need to be concerned about such small matters.