CH 14.1

Translator: Smaturin                Editor: Nefarian                                 

「Your majesty. There is something I would like to bring to your attention.」

The wizened man said as he knelt. He appeared to be over 60. His hair was completely white and he wore a paranoid expression behind his glasses. He was Toscan, the King’s faithful prime minister.

「You have my ear.」

The other was a man with red hair man, partially white, who wore a luxurious red gown. He was tall, reaching 6 feet and a half(approximately 2 meters) and had a muscular physique. His ample beard stretched down like fire, where it decorated his chest as if a lion’s mane. While the large man was in his mid-fifties, he had the force of vitality that made him seem 10 years younger.

His name was Wolfdiel Sevran Ru Ela Grandiera I. The king of the powerful country of Grandiera himself.

「I have brought it up before, but it is about『Demon Lord Aur』, who subjugated the kingdom of Figuria.」

「I thought that I told you that such a diminutive country isn’t worth my attention.」

Wolf moved a chess piece forward. There was no opponent. It was a chess composition…in other words, a chess problem.

「But…there was a report that someone resembling Yunis was seen in his party.」

「…Oh?」

Without stopping, Wolf continued to move the chess pieces.

「That troublesome girl. So she ended up in such a place after running out on her own, did she.」

「What will you do?」

Wolf’s hand stopped as he pondered on this. Then he placed the white pawn diagonally in front of the black king.

「Bring her back.」

There was nowhere for the black king to run.

「If she resists, you may kill her.」

The king had no choice but to take the pawn; Wolf crushed it with the white night, shattering it into dust..

「It is said that this Lafenice continent has 12 small and large countries in all.」

Aur explained as he drew the lines of the simple map with chalk. In front of him, the usual faces of Lilu, Yunis, Spina, and Ellen sat at the table, listening to his instructions.

The only thing different was that Mary, who had no intention of listening in the first place, had her face buried in the table and Mio was sitting towards the back, looking bored.

「The kingdom of Figuria…well, it has recently come to be known as the Demon Country or the Demon Lord’s Country. This country is located around here.」

Aur drew a small circle towards the center, slightly to the west of the continent.

「To the south is the great country, Grandiera. This mighty country has an order of knights commanded by Wolf, the Hero King. In terms of military strength, they are peerless on this continent. They were not originally so vast a country, but they quickly swallowed up their neighbors, reaching their great size in a very short amount of time.」

Aur circled the lower half of the continent as if tracing it. The size was nearly 10 times larger than Figuria.

「To the north is the religious state, Lafenice. You might call them the leading country of this continent. A country with traditions that go back over a thousand years. Their current leader is Saint Meria. They have long maintained neutrality and are never the first to attack, however, they will show no mercy once provoked. As a few countries have already learned. Not even Grandiera would raise a finger against them.」

Aur circled the top half of the continent. Now, most of the spaces in the continent had been filled.

「Other notable countries are Ravana, with its Dragon Knights to the east, and Alfheim, the home of the white elves. There are other countries, but they are small and share no borders with us, so we may disregard them.」

Aur drew even more circles in the empty spaces and put the chalk down.

「First, we must under no circumstances, antagonize Lafenice. They will leave us alone as long as we do not attack them, but they will annihilate if they should conclude that we are hostile. Nothing will remain of us when they are done.」

「But, Grandiera is superior to them in terms of their military, are they not?」

Aur nodded at Yunis’ question.

「『Military,』yes. But the Saint of Lafenice is not some self-styled saint. She is literally a messenger of God, servant of the angels. Antagonizing Lafenice would be the same thing as antagonizing the heavens.」

「But didn’t God die during the war in the age of gods?」

「Indeed. But even if their boss has died, those pesky angels are still in heaven. Just as we demons have not gone extinct.」

Logan answered with a heavy reply to Lilu’s question.

「Come to think of it, didn’t you experience the Shinma War…?」

「Yes. Though I was on the bottom rung, so it’s nothing to be proud of.」

That is the reason that a demon as powerful as Logan is called a 『low rank』. Thousands of years ago, in a time known as the age of gods. Numerous demons lead by the legendary Madouou, waged a war against the God who lived in heaven. The Shinma War. In that war, Logan was at the minimum fighting force level.

「Still, you know just what it means to get on the wrong side of heaven.」

「Well, it’s not that different than making every demon your enemy. Most of the superior fellows up there were destroyed as well. There won’t be a Shinmai War ever again, though, with our current strength, we couldn’t beat them even if they were blindfolded.」

「Yeah, it’s not possible.」

Yunis flatly agreed. Her combat abilities were said to be off the charts, but who could say if she would win against two enemies that were each as powerful as Logan. If there were three, then there would be no hope.

「So with that said, the real threat is Grandiera. They have already annexed many countries, and they actively wage war against others. There is a strong likelihood that they will assault us without provocation.」

「My father does love to wage war…」

Yunis muttered as she scratched her head.

「I left home because I hated it. I’m done with being a tool of war. The killing of innocents for your own ambition, treating them ill, colonizing them, I couldn’t bear it.”

Yunis declared decisively and looked towards Aur.

「But you’re different, Aur? Even if you do conquer other countries, you look after the people. You don’t mistreat them or make them your slaves. You serve responsibly as a king.」

「Why, of course.」

While he nodded self-righteously, Aur was not motivated by any sense of morality. It was in fact, merely his mistrust of humans.

It was necessary for Aur to firmly care for the countries in order to expand them and to remove the seeds of rebellion. It was either that or to utterly destroy enemy countries and increase your own countries population, as Wolf did.

Because Aur did not believe in humans, he chose the method which would decrease the risk of rebellion. It would mean fewer rebellions if he ruled over a diverse group of people

instead of allowing a united race to multiply.

「So, if working under you means that we can stop him, I am even willing to fight my father.」

「You would kill your own blood with your hands?」

Yunis’ expression became somewhat troubled by Aur’s words.

「…I’m prepared to do it; is what I would like to say, but…I’m sorry, I may not be able to.」

「I see. Well, I won’t force…」

「It’s not that.」

Yunis cut off Aur’s words and shook her head.

「Simply, I won’t be able to defeat him. Because my father is much stronger than I am.」