Book 10: Chapter 19: (1)

The world changes at a blindingly fast pace.

The Zadark Kingdom and the St. Altlis Kingdom have entered friendly relationships, and the gods have returned. 

This near unbelievable news of the two countries friendship treaty quickly traveled across the world, and at the same time, the smaller countries that didn’t have any gods descend upon learned of the approaching danger known as Wentus. 

Just as the Demon God planned, the smaller countries fell into fear and began sending envoys to the larger countries that had gods descend upon them. 

What should we do? Did the gods descend purely for the sake of combating Wentus? 

Amidst this mass commotion spreading everywhere, even the larger countries that had gods descend upon them were far from at peace. 

The Jiol Forest Kingdom was fine because King Sarigan was there at the gods’ gathering. Not to mention a portion of their country’s security was handled by the Mazoku due to their relations. 

The Canal Kingdom knew what they had to do because of their new ruler Celis. Their opposition towards the Mazoku had decreased as well since the Zadark Kingdom was assisting in restoring their country’s state day by day. 

The country experiencing the most chaos amongst the Four Great Nations as the Cylas Empire. 

After all, the one they sent to the gods’ meeting place was someone as muscle-brained as the average Mazoku, Azoth. 

Unable to provide a proper explanation whatsoever, the castle went into a huge ruckus when the Earth God Atlagus showed up inside. 

Regardless, the Cylas Empire was no more or less one of the Great Four Nations.  

Whether or not they listened to what Atlagus had to say about Wentus, the Imperial Council was called and the entire country decided that they were going to fight against it. 

The only problem was the matter of the citizens’ feelings. Thankfully, their relationship of commerce with the Zadark Kingdom was able to help with this. 

Perhaps it was because the country mainly consisted of people that cared about nothing but smithing, but the people’s aversion towards the “country of Mazoku” Zadark Kingdom was much lower than the emperor had expected. 

More importantly, there were many who felt that this was a great chance to enter friendly relations with the Zadark Kingdom and obtain rare metals that only existed in the Dark Continent and mass-produce brand new weapons and armor with them. 

And thus, things began to move towards the direction of even the Cylus Empire entering friendly relations with the Zadark Kingdom… Starting with that, many smaller countries across the whole world began wishing to enter friendly relations with the Zadark Kingdom, which led to the “World Meeting” to be inaugurated for the sake combating the new threat that the world was facing. 

The world that had once been stuck in stagnation was now quickly flowing towards a new direction. 

The new forms of stagnation, darkness, and all other things born from this change were unlike anything else in the once never ending cycle the world had been experiencing. 

That’s right, all the changes revolved around the Zadark Kingdom. 

The greatest castle in the world. 

Anyone who would lay eyes upon this castle would think that same thing. 

Every time the people living around the castle looked up at it, they were reminded of their loyalty to the master of that castle. 

Every time people living far from the castle looked at it, they couldn’t help but have their thoughts race over the master of that castle. 

It was because they knew that their world would have been completely different if it weren’t for the master of that castle. 

The name of that country was the Zadark Kingdom. 

It was a name chosen by the Demon King Vermudol, the ruler of that kingdom. 

Compared to the previous Demon King Gramfia, Demon King Vermudol had created a world that brought upon inconceivable changes. 

He was the absolute king that was adored and respected by his citizens. 

”It feels like the people walking about the castle town have grown pretty diverse.” 

“Yes. However, I can’t help but feel nostalgic over how it originally was in the past.” 

As Vermudol looked down from his castle, Ichika responded from behind him. 

Upon the terrace that had a great view of the castle town was a tableset with a cup of steaming hot tea and a plate of cookies, both being things that wouldn’t have ever been able to procure in the past. 

“Kuku… you mean the very beginning, I assume. There wasn’t anything but empty land, goblin settlements, and your little vegetable field, huh?” 

“Yes. I feel that things have gotten a bit too lively since then.” 

Compared to the past where they had practically nothing, the castle town was now filled with not only Mazoku but even members of humanity. 

Mazoku, humans, Sylphids, Metalio, beastmen… There was a limit to it, but many races were visiting this continent thanks to the Mazoku’s Transfer Magic. 

Rusperio, a race with blue gems on their foreheads. 

Izectia, a race that looked like humanoid insects. 

And combined with the beastmen, while it may not be much yet, circulation between the two continents had slowly begun to grow. 

The Izectia might have had appearances that strayed far from a human’s, but in a place where goblins were performing street performance acts for the foreigners, such a thing was hardly worth mentioning. 

That’s right, this place known as the Dark Continent would connect the two continents and serve as the core of the world. 

No one could have possibly imagined such a turn of events. 

“Now that you mention it, I do admit I miss your potato soup a little bit.” 

It was really nothing more than simple potato soup, made only from potatoes and salt. Ichika was quite dissatisfied with the fact that it had become the country’s signature dish, but she did not mind hearing Vermudol saying he was fond of it. 

Considering the vast knowledge and ability Ichika had, she did not exactly want to create a dish that she only made as a last resort in the past. 

It wouldn’t do to be known as the Potato Soup Girl even though she was a Maid Knight directly assigned under the Demon King, and she was trying to hold herself back from cutting down whoever caused such a shoddy dish to become a traditional mainstay all across the country, but… 

“I’d be happy to make it for you again whenever you’d like.” 

“Is that right?” 

If Vermudol wished for it, then she would swallow her pride. She’d just have to cut down all those who would laugh at her for it. All she wanted was to purely serve the Demon King. 

Whether or not Vermudol was aware of how Ichika felt about all that, he returned his gaze back down to the castle town. 

The cursed land laying at the end of the world. 

This continent would no longer be called such a thing. 

There was no end to the number of visitors requesting the service of Transfer Magic to come sightsee, and there were even some curious people who hoped to immigrate here. 

Once Wentus is defeated and the Endless Sea is brought to a calm, there’s no doubt that nautical developments would progress at an incredible rate. Once that happens, they’d get even more visitors. 

After all, apparently many members of humanity have been excited for that to become a possibility soon as of recently. 

“It feels like humanity is begging to embrace a period of peace again. I wonder if it’s because the upcoming threat of Wentus is still not yet visible to them. Or perhaps…” 

“It might be that they feel unstoppable because the Mazoku that they thought to be their enemies all this time are now their allies.” 

“…Unstoppable, huh?” 

Rokuna, who had appeared at the terrace, spoke those words as she sat down onto a chair and took a gulp of tea with no hesitation whatsoever. 

“I’d say it’s more like they have someone they can rely on now. The Mazoku who’ve been their enemy for so long -from humanity’s point of view that is- are now their reliable allies, and the gods have returned to our realm. I can’t really blame them for thinking that a dangerous enemy approaching them isn’t any worry of theirs.” 

“Even though the strength they’ve gained isn’t even their own.” 

Following Rokuna, Nino showed up and grabbed onto Vermudol’s waist, proclaiming her disdain. 

They had a point… it wasn’t that hard to understand why members of humanity felt like that. 

Essentially, they wanted to entrust something they’d never be able to handle on their own to someone else. 

It’ll be find since the Mazoku are lending their strength, there’s no way we’d lose because we have the gods’ protection… Comforting thoughts such as those would do much to break down any sense of danger. 

From a more optimistic view, that’s honestly not that bad. It’s at least better than them breaking into panic and falling apart. 

Plus, the fact that they’re “entrusting” this ordeal with the Mazoku means that their friendship will grow stronger as well. 

“It doesn’t matter if it’s their own strength or not.” 

“You think so? Nino thinks something like that is really important, though.” 

“Mazoku might feel that way, at least. But that’s not exactly how members of humanity think. IN fact, I’d say humanity puts a pretty heavy emphasis on affiliation.” 

Organizations, countries, races… none of that should matter, but to humanity, they’re all very important. 

Considering that they’ve lived this long thanks to their cooperation as a community, it’s only natural that they’d feel that way. 

For example, a large palace would never be attempted to be built by a single person, but rather through the cooperation of everyone. 

One person might collect the stone, another might carve them, another might lay the stone out, and another might be the one who’ll be paying everyone else. By splitting up these roles, tasks that would never be able to be completed by a single person can become possible. 

It’d be a result of not just one person’s efforts, but by everyone’s. 

It wouldn’t be a single person that directly created the outcome, everyone would work as a team. 

Vermudol tried explaining that, but Nino muttered with an expressionless face. 

“Nino doesn’t get it.” 

“I see. Well, basically… Oh, I know, it’s like how the rearguard contributes to victory as well.” 

“So they’ll attack with magic or something?” 

“Maybe.” 

They wouldn’t be attacking directly, but they’d be supporting us and praying for us… something like that. There wasn’t much point in explaining that to a Mazoku like Nino, though. 

It’d be hard to explain that point of view to the Mazoku believe it’s only natural that one lives through the strength of their own power. The only ones that might be able to understand that would be the goblins who often live in groups and the Beastia. 

“Well, it’s not like I don’t understand. There’s all kinds of tales in the hero’s saga that get spread through humanity’s realm talking about stuff like the princess granting the hero power through prayer. It might be that humanity believes that prayer offers some sort of magical effect.” 

However, it looked like Rokuna understood to an extent, since she had spent time in the realm of humanity and read all kinds of their books. 

And Ichika followed up as well. 

“…I can’t exactly deny the validity of that. Whether or not prayer actually has any power, it’s the belief of its power that has caused temples to be built all across their continent.” 

“Yep, that’s how it is. It might have started from nothing but a disillusionment, but it had the ability to form strong public opinion. Things like that are very important for humanity’s society.” 

Vermudol nodded to what Rokuna and Ichika had to say, while Nino grumbled, seemingly still having trouble to understand.