Chapter 45: The Sage Starts a War with a New Country

“My Lord, I have something to report.”

Grom, who appeared in the audience hall, spoke while bowing deeply.

He had a nervous look on his face.

It seemed to be bad news.

I crossed my legs while seated on the throne.

“What is it?”

“The Holy Sceptre Kingdom has declared war on us.”

“I see.”

Grom's words were met with a clerical response from me.

I was hardly surprised. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

It had been more than thirty days since we finished our war with the Empire.

I knew this would happen sooner or later.

The Holy Sceptre Kingdom is a country located to the east of the Demon Lord's domain, beyond a deep forest and a ravine.

The country's name was enough to prove they were well versed in holy magic, and they are said to be deeply religious people.

They abhor the undead to an excessive degree.

After all, miasma is the opposite of holy power.

Whenever an undead is defeated in a heroic tale, it was almost always vanquished by someone from the Holy Sceptre Kingdom.

In fact, it is said that there are many excellent users of holy magic in the country.

When it comes to fighting undead, the Holy Sceptre Kingdom is unrivaled among the other countries.

Naturally, it was a country synonymous with killing undead.

There was no way that the Holy Sceptre Kingdom would leave an Undead Demon Lord alone.

They would want to destroy me at all costs.

I knew they would make a move sooner or later.

If you ask me why I've ignored them until now, it's probably because of the Holy Sceptre Kingdom's other obsession.

They value the current status of the Holy Sceptre Kingdom even more than fighting the undead.

In other words, pride, respect, and honour.

The Holy Sceptre Kingdom values these attributes, and is always thinking about how other countries see them.

I remember they were often ridiculed as a pretentious country.

If they moved rashly, it would affect the Holy Sceptre Kingdom’s reputation.

That's probably why they were looking for a reason to invade.

Now that the empire had been destroyed, they decided that it was time for them to act.

They must have made the declaration of war in order to let their prestige and legitimacy be known to the other countries.

“We will destroy the Lord of the Undead, who seeks to cover the continent in darkness. What an infuriating declaration.”

“At face value, it's true. They're not wrong.”

“I'm sure they are, but…”

Grom grunted in frustration.

I'm sure it's ridiculous from his standpoint.

For Grom, who knows and agrees with my true purpose as the Demon Lord, the Holy Sceptre Kingdom's announcement must be offensive.

Nevertheless, this was not a bad precedent.

The fact that the Holy Sceptre Kingdom had declared war meant that they had recognized the Demon Lord as an enemy.

It was a development that matched my objective of becoming the enemy of the world.

“Then, what shall we do now? Should that archer and I go against them, like we did when invading the empire?”

“Hmm, I wonder…”

As I scrached my chin and pondered, the door opened.

It was Luciana, who entered the room with a document in her hand.

She said to me.

“We have a problem. It seems that the army of the Holy Sceptre Kingdom has already started to invade the Demon Lord's domain. According to my spies, there's been quite a bit of damage.”

“…Oh.”

According to Luciana, the armies of the Holy Sceptre Kingdom had already begun their invasion from the southeast.

They were crossing the Demon Lord's territory and indiscriminately killing humans.

The Holy Sceptre Kingdom claimed that they were “giving salvation to the people of darkness who had fallen into the hands of the Demon Lord.”

Grom, who was listening to the conversation beside her, asked Luciana with an irritated look.

“Succubus. Are you sure about this information?”

“Of course I am. Do you think I'm lying here?”

“I'm asking if the spy's story has no mistakes.”

Luciana stepped forward to counter Grom's words.

She poked Grom in the chest with her fingertip.

“Trust me on this. I’ll tell you about it in detail. By the way, why is the Bone Minister here?”

“I've come with information that the Holy Sceptre Kingdom has declared war on our Demon Lord.”

“They invaded as soon as they declared war? As expected of those humans.”

Lucina mocked in a resigned tone.

You could see the disdain for humankind in her face.

The usually joyous gaze on her face too, had vanished completely.

The Holy Sceptre Kingdom was far more merciless than I thought.

I'm not sure how far they intended to invade, but they seem to be seriously attacking the Demon Lord's territory.

In addition, in their minds, the people who obey me are also targets to purge.

“What should we do about the Holy Sceptre Kingdom’s army? It's a human city that's being attacked, should we wait and watch for now?”

“No, we will face them. You can't do whatever you want in the Demon Lord’s territory and expect us to stay silent.”

I answered immediately.

If they were left unchecked, it would only cause more damage.

The human city is part of the Demon Lord's territory.

As long as they obeyed me, they belonged to me.

I can't let anyone threaten them as they wished.

“When will the army leave?”

“As soon as they’re ready. I shall proceed with the organization of troops immediately.”

When Luciana heard my instructions, she let out an exaggerated sigh.

There was a wry smile on her lips.

“The Demon Lord is too kind. You'd make a good king, wouldn't you?”

"Enough with the jokes. Go quickly. Grom, too.”

“Ye-s”

“Yes, sir!”

When I urged them to leave, they obediently did so.

Left alone, I rested my back against the throne.

My thoughts were still on the matter of the Holy Sceptre Kingdom.

For me, it's a fated fight…

Ten years ago, she and I were repeatedly hindered by the Holy Sceptre Kingdom.

They did not wish to allow anyone who was not among their own citizens to defeat the Demon Lord.

Although the situation back then was different from now, both acts were probably done to maintain their pride and dignity.

There were several times in the past when I almost lost my life.

While repeatedly harassing us in a despicable manner, the Holy Sceptre Kingdom did not contribute any capable people to the fight.

This was because the few heroes the Holy Scepter Kingdom possessed had died in battles against the demon race.

At that time, the Holy Sceptre Kingdom did not have enough power to fight against the Demon Lord.

In the end, we were able to overcome their numerous sabotage attempts and defeated the Demon Lord after a fierce battle.

After that, we had no more contact with the Holy Sceptre Kingdom, and were soon executed.

Even after ten years, and having abandoned the human race, I still don't have a good impression of that country.

They are arrogant to a fault, and only care about themselves.

In a way, they could be considered as being cast from the same mould as the empire.

Although their goals differed, neither could be said to be a cooperative country.

It is not that I wanted to settle a grudge with them, but I do want them to suffer a bitter loss.

I will not destroy them this time.

I will only encourage them to join hands with other countries, without their petty obsessions.

The power of the Holy Sceptre Kingdom will be useful to mankind in the future.

They will definitely be humankind’s hope in dealing with the Undead Demon Lord.

I will make use of their pride to force them to cooperate.

Not long after that, an army was formed to fight the Holy Sceptre Kingdom.

Henry, who was unaffected by the purifying effects of holy magic, and Grom, who could control the undead, became generals, while Luciana, Doldar, and I stood by.

The two of them will lead a mixed army of demons, undead, and elves to attack.

Since our opponent uses holy magic, I gave the undead reinforcement magic as well.

With this, the main weakness of the undead had been improved. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

They are now a force that could defeat most armies.

I intend to transfer my intercepting army to the Holy Sceptre Kingdom’s location.

When the battle is over, Grom will send me a telepathic signal.

From my experience so far, it should be over by nightfall.

—Thus, after a brief respite, the Demon Lord's army began to fight against a new country.