Chapter 108: How Hope Died, How It Was Brought Back

I found myself in a Hell from which no men, women, or children could ever escape. There were no victims in this place, for that, you'd have to assume innocence, and that could not be found here.

These people were all targets, demons whose death would do the world good, only after they were gone could there be peace.

At least, that's the promise the heroes coming from the gates were told, a dazzling dream of vanquishing evil capable of blinding all young men who once dreamed of a better world.

They followed the words of the Gods, beings that brought them power and guided them to a better way of life, helped and saved many by performing miracles, and created legends that went down in the history of many words.

You could see the gleam in the eyes of these genocidal maniacs as they believed in the good of their indiscriminate killings. After all, any who stands against good must be evil.

There wasn't anything to win here. No point to be proven. Even if the land couldn't be conquered, what would you even do with it after this?

I don't think this could even be called a war. This was simply punishment.

As for the side being punished... it's almost laughable.

Of course, I take pity on them, enemies of every single world that follows the Gods. They have no allies. No one is coming to save them. And their only way out has been blocked, only to be used by their enemies to bring more troops into their world.

Only one city remains, but they can't capitulate, they can't discuss a peace deal, they can't even surrender.

This will only end when they die. All of them.

There's no future for them. There's not even hope.

... Wrong.

They had hope. A single one. The skies tremble with her presence, no matter what enemy is in front of her, angels or humans, elves or dwarfs, even Gods, they all know that what stands before them is the last bastion of this world.

Her death would bring the end of resistance, and so, she stood proud, annihilating everything in front of the walls of what remains of an empire that once ruled over the entire world.

The generals that followed her, monsters in their own right, faced their imminent death with a smile.

As for her soldiers, they had no choice to begin with. It's the end of the World, might as well go down swinging.

Of course, there was no such thing as civilians. No one was going to be spared and they knew it, in every house, all members of a family, no matter their age, would take arms. Fighting was the only way for them to survive even a second longer, it was the only way of protecting their friends, their wives and husbands, and their sons and daughters.

Merchant: "...That one's Gift is similar to yours. I bet you'd get along pretty well."

Miwen: "I doubt it."

He points at a necromancer in the frontlines, she looks kind of young, but since demons live longer, I can't determine her age correctly, as far as I know, she's probably older than me given the position she holds in this army.

The way she portrays herself and the words coming from her mind also betray any speck of innocence a young lady might show.

It's sheer vitriol. Mocking of those who even dare face her.

Though for an outsider the motive couldn't be more obvious.

Her Queen is currently taking on the strongest enemy alongside ten thousand more men all by herself.

How could she even allow something like this to happen?

...It's a commendable effort. Valiant even.

But it's also incredibly stupid.

Her strength... no, her war potential is on par with her Queen. Every soldier killed on either side rises instantly, possessing the same strength and parts of the conscience still intact, the biggest difference is that they are now under her direct control.

Any soldier on the side of the demons must be killed twice, and any soldier on the side of the Gods who is killed will become an enemy.

This amount of men being controlled... while maintaining most of their power... it's absolute madness.

She is worth an entire army alone.

Still, she got her wish. A God lands in front of her, wiping lines of resurrected soldiers with a swing of his fists. The pressure equals what the Merchant has shown me today. But the way he seems to enjoy this, the disgusting smile on his face as he hunts her down... those make him much more of a menace than the Merchant ever looked.

This leads her to commit her second mistake.

Well, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but... she decided to absorb every single corpse into her, both those who had been killed definitely, and the walking deadmen still standing on the battlefield.

The giant monster she became was her only option to survive. And her survival was a priority, if they wanted to win this they...

They couldn't.

There's no winning this.

Merchant: "We'll have to go now. See that light forming in the sky? It's going to wipe away everyone here. No matter their side. Then that guy fighting Liz is going to look for survivors and well... if he does that he'll find us so..."

This is a glimpse of the past.

But it's not a memory.

The Merchant is making me watch this. It's part of the newest vile scheme he came up with.

This greedy bastard can't take no for an answer.

Miwen: "...Why didn't you help her? You can travel to the past, there shouldn't be anything you can't do."

Merchant: "...I offered to take her away before this began. But she refused. Once this started, I couldn't interfere anymore. If I did, this would have ended sooner. I would only attract someone worse."

... The Merchant's Gift is way more powerful than it first appears. The ability to travel anywhere, including past and future...

And yet... he can't do anything with it.

He can only hide and wait until it's the right moment to attack.

I now understand why he was called a coward. Though I think he carries more weight than anyone. He is the last one that can defy them, his death would mean that the Gods won, simply as that.

He must choose his every battle, and he must be precise.

I couldn't imagine myself In his shoes.

The light he spoke started coming down... it covered all corners of this world.

It's way more than overkill... even using her strongest attacks, the Demon Queen couldn't delay that for even a second. She couldn't protect anyone, not even herself.

The fate of this world was decided.

And I was back at the Kingdom.

Granted, this time proved that he's even more unreliable than I first thought but still...

Demon Queen: "... I swear to serve you however you see fit."

Finally, the girl herself spoke. She kept beside Priscilla, meekly looking down.

She looks just like a loyal dog by her owner's side, not a trace of the proud woman defying the Merchant that I saw earlier.

Whatever Priscilla was, her presence was enough for the Demon Queen to not raise a word to protest while they kept offering her to me.

I don't know if she's more powerful than the Merchant, but she certainly seems scarier.

Miwen: "Hah... I'll be direct then. See... I don't like you. I still want to kick your ass for what you pulled here. I don't care about power or knowledge, I'm a very simple man.

You hurt the ones I care about, I want to hurt you back. As far as I'm concerned, you can die in an alley somewhere and nothing would change for me."

Priscilla: "...Petty."

Merchant: "...Idiot."

Priscilla: "...Short-sighted."

Merchant: "...Your ears look funny."

Alright, these guys are impossible.

The last one didn't even have anything to deal with the situation at hand.

Merchant: "... If I remember correctly, you have a system that allows you to force your will onto others, do you not? You could just use that to force her loyalty."

That's not exactly how that works... a [Citizen] can revoke their status if they wish to, and then I can't give them new orders. Not to mention...

Miwen: "Well, I am an idiot after all. I doubt I can give an order without any loopholes in it. I also don't know how many points I'd need to make an order like absolute obedience work effectively."

If I also had to keep renewing or giving new orders to her, it would quickly become a waste of [Kingdom Points].

Merchant: "...hm... You're a tough nut to crack... then how about this? If you don't accept her, I'll kill you and everyone you love!"

Miwen: "You won't though."

The whole villain act might've worked when I didn't know him but... now it just looks silly.

Priscilla: "You said you want to hurt her back... but you don't need to kill her, right?"

Miwen: "...What are you saying?"

Priscilla: "Would humiliation be enough to settle your feelings?"

Demon Queen: "...H-Huh?"

Huh... I'm not sure, but I'm quite intrigued.

I decided to go along with her suggestion.

Thanks to Priscilla, all the girls were fine now, and they waited for us to finish our discussion.

Of course, by waiting I mean that they were all listening through the door or hiding close to a window.

Still, as per Priscilla's suggestion, we made her apologize while kneeling in front of the girls.

All the while, she swore to the girls that they could give her one order and that she'd follow it for the rest of her life.

As a guarantee, Priscilla was... well, she didn't tell me what she was going to do, but she made it clear that there were going to be consequences.

Some of the girls took it lightly, for example, Ellie just asked her to do some push-ups... which was surprisingly hard for her.

Bea simply asked the Demon Queen to help her with her research... whatever that entails.

The words she used left that quite ambiguous, but... knowing Bea it's probably... it's possibly... it might not be so... horrendous.

As for test subjects, Licia had an idea of her own. Apparently, since she looks like a doll, she wants to be responsible for doing her make-up.

In a way, she got another plaything.

Those were the nice ones...

Claire felt like this was a great opportunity to get herself a maid, so, she ordered the Demon Queen to wash her plates and clean her mess wherever she went.

According to her, no one would have the right to call her lazy anymore since she would be taking care of her mess by using her maid. I disagree on principle, but alright.

Anna wanted to test her strength against her barriers, and similarly, Mia wanted a sparring partner on the call, which might save me a lot of trouble, but also meant that this poor girl was going to face a world of hurt.

Now that they had all forgiven her, things were somewhat settled.

Miwen: "I gotta say, I'm suddenly feeling way better. Congrats Merchant, your girl did a fine job."

Priscilla: "His... girl? What do you-"

Merchant: "M-more importantly Miwen, it's your turn now."

Oh yeah, he's right. I forgot I also get to make a wish to the demon.

Hm... it's a bit hard to think, there's not really anything I'm lacking, and having her follow us is a given.

I'll obviously try to include loyalty but just asking for that is a bit of a waste.

Well, let's go with something simple for now.

Miwen: "I kind of need a general and a strategist... At least someone used to giving orders to help me improve... so... I want you to be my loyal assistant. I'll be counting on you. Also, the loyal part is very important, keep that in mind."

It's fine like this.

An assistant is vague enough that I can basically have her do any job, and I also made sure to give her at least an idea of what I expect from her.

As long as I don't get stabbed in the back, this should be fine.

The only guarantee I have is Priscilla though, but she seems at least more reliable than the Merchant, and I don't think that Elizabeth has any will to go against her.

However, her mood seems a bit unstable as she's now trying to kill the Merchant for reasons unknown.