Volume 8 - CH 18

Goods can be carried in phases, so i was able to carry quite a lot.

That night, everyone split up and prepared for their stay.

“Well, I’m sorry that you’re tired, but…..”

After finishing our simple meal, we sat around a round table in the Demon King’s Castle.

I say as the lights illuminate the room dimly.

“I would like to get to know the inner workings of the demon tribe as soon as possible. Today, I would like you to tell me a few things, even if it’s only briefly.”

If i’m too slow, we might get sniffed around by strange people again.

The sun has already set, so we can’t talk too much, but I wanted to grasp the whole picture of the problem.

After waiting for the slightly nervous kings to nod, I open my mouth again.

“If there’s something difficult to say here, you don’t have to say it here. I’ll ask you individually later. Well then, let’s go in order. First, King Sigil.”

“Ah… Is it me?”

The boy king of the Black Forest Dark Elves straightens his posture.

“You, the representative of the Black Forest Dark Elves, General Garasela, seemed to be quite aggressive about invading the empire.”

“Ah, I guess…”

“You said that was the will of your race. But in history, the Dark Elves of the Black Forest shouldn’t have fought so much with humans. Why do you insist on invading so strongly? Huh? The military seems to be in control, but what kind of cause is there?”

“That’s… huh”

King Sigil scratched his head.

“… In a nutshell, the problem is the relationship with the forest elves.”

“With the forest elves?”

“Hey, do you know about the forest elf, Maou-sama?”

“… Ah.”

“If you’ve met them, it’s quick to talk about. Then what do you think is the difference between us and the forest elves? Oh, other than the part about interacting with humans.”

I think a little before answering King Sigil’s question.

“That’s… the color of your skin… I’m sorry, but I’m not familiar with your culture so I can’t think of anything else.”

“No, that’s fine.”

King Sigil said with a wry smile.

“That’s about it, the difference between us. That’s why more than five hundred years ago, we were like one race.”

King Sigil continues.

“They appreciate the forest in the same way, and have lived with the spirits in the same way. Their skin colors are different, and they lived in different villages, but we have always thought of ourselves as compatriots who share the same values. Thousands of years ago. It’s just that… that changed as humans grew in power.”

“…”

“While the dark elves of the Black Forest cut off all ties with humans, the elves of the forest, on the contrary, deepened their exchanges little by little. Maybe… maybe it’s because their skin color is closer to that of humans than us.”

King Sigil continued to speak indifferently.

“So, 500 years ago, the forest elves rebelled against the demon king who was trying to invade human territory and defected. ”

“I understand the circumstances somehow… but what does that have to do with this invasion?”

“We want to annex the independent territories of the forest elves.”

King Sigil answered without changing his expression.

“Everyone thinks that the current forest elves and black forest dark elves are not what they should be. We all think we can go back to what we used to be…we’re all one race, so the war with the humans is just an excuse. Claiming its strategic importance and insisting on invading it.”

“Is that so……”

The situation was more complicated than I had imagined due to the history and ideology of the race.

“Well… what do you think yourself? Do you still think that you should annex independent territories and return to one race?”

“… No. I think it’s stupid.”

King Sigil smiled wryly.

“The forest elves and the black forest dark elves have been this way since before I was born.　I don’t know that they were one in the beginning. I mean, there are only a couple of Dark Elves who know what it was like back then, and I’m sure there are many people in the city who feel the same way I do. And …… I honestly don’t understand the idea that going back in time will solve everything.”

“in that case……”

“But I don’t want to make fun of those who feel that it’s important.”

King Sigil spoke with a serious voice.

“I’m still a king. I don’t want to ignore the feelings of my subjects.”

“…”

“I don’t think we should go back to one race, but I don’t think we should not unite either. I don’t think there’s such a thing as ‘it should be like this’….Ah, is this the answer?”

“….Yeah, I kind of get it..”

“I see, I’m glad. Well, I don’t have real authority, and I feel like I’m just talking.”

King Sigil said so with a bright smile.

“However, the military wants to maintain their current power, so they probably want to increase their importance in the war. So it’s not just a question of race.”

“That’s a bit complicated. I’ll ask you about that after tomorrow. ……. Next, King Plushe..”

“Mu, next?”

The three-eyed tria girl king reacts while rubbing her eyes.

She seemed to be sleepy.

“As I said earlier, I don’t really understand internal affairs, do you?”

“It doesn’t matter as long as you can answer”

I ask before something serious comes up again.

“Representative Paracellus-dono took a strong stance against the invasion. Why is that?”

“That kind of thing is easy. Because the people of the Three-Eyed Tria are weak. We don’t want a war.”

I frowned slightly at King Plushe’s words.

“What does it mean to be weak while possessing the power of the Evil Eye? 　It should be difficult to prevent the Evil Eye’s curse unless you use special talismans and marks.”

“Well, Demon King. We’re certainly strong. When it comes to hunting and one-on-one duels, we’re by no means inferior to other races. But… war is a different story.”

As I tilted my head, King Plushe continued.

“It will naturally become a team fight. If that happens, the Evil Eye will lose its advantage.”

King Plushe puts her finger to her own forehead and slightly opens her vertical eyelid where the evil eye rests.

“We look with this third eye and stop the movement of the enemy. I hear that if you are outstanding, you can stop the heartbeat and cause death, or turn the body to stone. However, this is not possible in a group battle. Our eyes are drawn to our surroundings, making it difficult to focus on a single enemy. Our bodies are more fragile than those of other races. We are outnumbered and outgunned by humans.”

“… Ah, I see.”

I somehow agreed.

Come to think of it, a hunter I met in my previous life also complained that it’s much more difficult to shoot one bird in a flock than to aim for a stray bird. Would be similar to that.

“But then why were you participating in the invasion five hundred years ago?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t born into this world yet.”

“…”

“Well, I can imagine. Perhaps it was simply the threat of the human invasion.  Unlike forest elves and dwarf dwarves, we had no interaction with humans, and we have no choice but to take up arms with the demon king. But now it’s different. The truce with humans has been going on for a long time, and perhaps because the country has grown and prospered and the standard of living has risen, there is a strong anti-war mood among the people. The situation is different from the time of the great war 500 years ago and before that.

I listened to King Plushe’s story with admiration.

“I see, I understand most of it. But even so, you can talk a lot about internal affairs, even though you say you don’t know anything about them.”

“Even a child can talk about this, but if you want me to tell you about finances, industry, and social infrastructure in detail, I don’t know anything about it.”

“Then, if i really want to know, i’ll ask the prime minister. Now then… King Gauss.”

“Is it my turn! Okay, ask me anything!”

King Gauss stands up in high spirits.

The ceiling of this castle is so high that even a giant can easily enter, so even if King Gauss is standing, it doesn’t feel cramped.

“I’m an idiot, so I don’t understand difficult things!”

“I don’t mind if you say that so boldly… but the question is the same as before. Why did the representative, Ente Goo-dono, announce his non-participation in the Demon King’s Army? As far as I’ve heard… …It seems that the last war was the trigger for him to distrust other races.”

“Oh… is that it?”

King Gauss sat down again as if his energy had suddenly withered away.

“It’s a simple story. In the war five hundred years ago, many giants died. There are people who claim that it was because they were set up by another race and sent to the front lines where the fighting was fierce. The other races too.”

“Hey, don’t listen to them!”

King Sigil let out a sharp voice, but King Gauss waved his hand in annoyance.

“Don’t listen, this is what it is. Even those who say it don’t know how much they believe it.”

“…wasn’t that what actually happened?”

When I ask, King Gauss makes a gesture of shrugging his shoulders.

“I don’t know. After all, it was 500 years ago. There’s no one who can clearly talk about a war that was so long ago that even forest elves died. We giants are the strongest demons when it comes to physical strength alone. That’s why… there were times when we were asked to go to the front lines, and there were those who went forward , died for the sake of their comrades.”

Silence descended on the round table as we listened to this mysterious narration that was not typical of King Gauss.

I ask after a short pause.

“Then…why are there people who say such things demeaning our ancestors?”

“… Giants don’t like fighting.”

King Gauss said quietly.

“No, it’s a fight… I think the whole relationship with humans and other races is not good. Our body sizes are too different, and the food we eat is different from other races. The tools they use are also different. That’s why we inevitably end up living a closed life, but for some reason, there are quite a few people who think that giants shouldn’t mix with other races…but that’s not the ccase”

“…”

“While humans and other races have developed, we giants have remained the same. Compared to other races, our population has not increased that much. No matter how much I tell my father, he won’t listen to me., he won’t listen to me… That’s why I think this is my last chance.”

King Gauss says quietly.

“If we can achieve results against humans like our ancestors who once fought in the Demon King’s Army……no, if only we were born with an opportunity to fight side by side with other races, we would be able to recover the five hundred years we lost. , I thought it might be a chance to start developing as a giant tribe.”

“…”

I stared at King Gauss in silence.

This boy seemed to care more about his race as a king than I thought.

“…This man is an idiot, but what he just said is not wrong. Maou-sama.”

The one who slowly opened his mouth was King Vill.

“Giants are closed off, and above all, they place extreme importance on their values as a race…just like us, the demon ogres.”

“… Your representative, Domvo-dono, was in favor of the invasion.”

“yes”

King Vill nodded with a grim expression.

“In contrast to the giants, we demon ogres value struggle above all else. Fighting is the way of life for demon ogres, and the law, culture, ethics, and society all develop on the premise of struggle.”

“…”

“But violence has made it harder and more demanding to make a living than in the past. Invasion is a way to achieve both wealth acquisition and racial identity. That’s why many people, including my mother Queen Merdeva, are supporting it, …..Totally, though, it seems foolish.”

“… why is that?”

“That’s because it’s just an ad hoc response.”

King Vill said while fixing his glasses.

“Perhaps because the population of us demons has increased, the number of large monsters in the forest has decreased compared to the past. Also, skirmishes between demons that used to occur occasionally are now almost gone. Hunters and mercenaries. Even if they were able to temporarily absorb employment during the war, what would happen after that?　If there is no fundamental solution, it will just return to the way it was before.”

“…”

“What the demon ogres need now is a change in their consciousness that regards violence as supreme. We must nurture an advanced culture, nurture a sense of ethics, pursue learning, and build a new industrial structure. Giants, although the issues we face are different, we are also the same, if we cannot adapt to change, we will perish. For that reason, we must be in harmony with humans, not hostile to them. War is out of the question. Incorporating their superior culture, however, it will be our way of survival… This is the inner circumstance of the Demon Ogre race.”

King Vill spoke out as if to pour out the feelings he had been accumulating.

In the heavy air, I say briefly.

“……I understand, thank you”

After a short pause, i turned to the next king.

“Then next… King Fili Nair.”

“Eh… Are you going to ask Fili too?”

King Fili Nair said with a little hesitation.

“Even if you ask me about the beastman race, I can’t answer anything…”

“No, I have a vague understanding of the beastmen’s circumstances from Nikuru Nora-dono’s talk. That’s what he said, but I wonder if it’s true. Humans and beastmen are hostile to each other, and there shouldn’t be any official diplomatic relations.”

“Yeah, it’s true.”

King Fili Nair nodded.

“Of course, there is no interaction with the country, but I sell a lot of things to humans, and I buy a lot of things. There are a lot of them, so I think there are a lot of people who would be in trouble if they weren’t able to do business with humans.”

“Yes… that’s right.”

Even in the empire, there were quite a few items that were labeled as belonging to the demon territory, and crafts were especially appreciated by nobles as rare items.

“Of course, it’s not officially imported, it’s all privately traded.”

It’s nothing strange. In my previous life, long before I was born, diplomatic relations with the Song Dynasty had been cut off, but even after that, private trade ships of merchants continued to visit us.

“But it’s not just Fili and the others who depend on this trade .”

King Fili Nair continues.

“Even the magic tools of divine demons, the textiles of the three-eyed tria, and the minerals mined by the demon ogres, are bought by the beastmen in order to sell them to humans. It’s kind of dependent, isn’t it?”

“Certainly, you can say that. But even so… you can answer quite well.”

“Fili,  knows a lot about money. I like it.”

“Then this might be difficult, but…”

With some hesitation, I ask another question.

“I heard that beastmen other than catkin live a completely different life, far from trading, is that true?”

“…Yeah. It’s true.”

King Fili Nair nodded slightly, as if she was a little annoyed.

“Such as pastoralism, farming, working as a mercenary…it depends on the race. Only the cat people have such a large number of merchants.”

“That’s…why?”

“Fili, aren’t I cute?”

King Fili Nair suddenly smiled and said.

I couldn’t help but to be dazzled.

“What?”

“Compared to other beastmen, Fili and the others had a slightly more human-like appearance, were more amiable, …… and cunning and shrewd. That’s why we were good merchants, I think.”

“Oh, is that so…”

“It would be nice if the other beastkins were like that too.”

I silently looked at King Fili Nair.

The catkin girl king continues with a downcast look.

“Becoming a king doesn’t bring me much benefit, but I only accepted it because there was money in it,  Papa was also really struggling, he complained all the time…. It seems silly to start a war…”

“…Nikuru Nora-dono was against the invasion, but are there beastmen who are not like that?”

“Yeah… everyone seems to think that if you fight and steal something, you’ll become rich. Even among the cat people, there are people who support war.”

“…”

“Certainly, it seems like it would be profitable to sell weapons.”

King Fili Nair said in a clear tone.

“I think it’s a little different.”

“……I understand, thank you”

When I said that, I sighed heavily and gathered my willpower, finally turning to the boy who was the king of demons.

“Then King Athos.”

The demon boy king nodded with a clouded expression.

I try to keep my tone as upbeat as possible.

“Umm, I just don’t have much to ask you. If you have any problems, please let me know.”

King Athos whispered into the silver demon’s ear after he pondered for a moment with a serious look on his face.

“Yes, yes… Our race continues to develop, and in general we are able to maintain a good society. Of course, there are many small problems, but they are all not serious enough to hinder the survival of the race. No. If there’s one thing that worries me most, it’s that.”

Then, the silver demon hesitated and stopped speaking.

“… ‘It’s my existence,’ said the king.”

“… what does that mean?”

“’As you can see’”

He was whispered into her ear, and the devil attendant answered.

“‘I can’t speak satisfactorily, and I can’t even give a speech or call out to my subjects. It’s not just because of my fault,’… ‘It’s probably due to my lack of ability as a monarch,’ said the king.”

Hesitantly, the silver devil declared.

King Athos himself kept his head down.

The room in the Demon King’s Castle was once again filled with silence.

“If you say such a thing, I can’t stand the tide. Athos.”

The one who broke it was King Sigil.

He speaks in a soothing, cheerful tone.

“Because none of us here have real power as kings.”

A wry smile arose among the kings.

“In fact, everyone may feel unworthy of their position.”

“… I was wondering, why did everyone become king at such a young age?”

I ask the kings.

“I heard that demons live longer than humans and are more resistant to disease…”

“In my case, it’s just a coincidence.”

King Sigil answered first.

“The previous king had difficulty having a son, and he died early in life. As a matter of fact, there are very few Black Forest dark elves who live to see the end of their lifespan. I was the only prince, so I ascended the throne. Isn’t that a common story in human history as well?”

“……Ah”

It’s a story I’ve heard a lot in my previous life as well as in this life.

“Surely, Athos, Vill, and Plushe felt the same way, didn’t they?”

“My father didn’t die particularly young, though.”

King Vill said while fixing his glasses.

“He was not blessed with an heir, nor did he have an older brother. They all fought with each other and all died from injuries.”

“I am not even a biological child. I am just a stranger who was hastily adopted by the king, who was ill and had no children. Although we were only slightly related by blood, due to the urgent situation, to place such a baby girl on the throne, …… it smells like a conspiracy.”

As if it were someone else’s problem, King Plushe said with a laugh.

“However… there is even suspicion that the former king was poisoned.”

“… Yes. “My father, the former king, was a tyrant and a tyrannical ruler. In fact, it was concluded that he died of illness, but it can be said that such suspicions are not true,’’ said the king. I’m sorry.”

King Athos bows down again.

I open my mouth after a while.

“… I understand the four of you, but what about King Fili Nair and King Gauss?”

“Fili’s throne, Papa bought it for me.”

I opened my mouth to King Fili Nair’s answer.

“yes?”

“The throne of the beastman is put up for auction every time. The person who wins the bid will be the next king.”

“Wh…why is there such a system?”

“For beastmen, the throne is like that.”

King Phili Nair answered like it was boring.

“We are self-governed by our respective races, so we don’t have the authority to tell anyone what to do or make laws, from the very beginning. The only reason we have a monarchy is to be on equal footing with the other demon tribes. It’s a system that is designed for those who have the money and the position, and who can afford and are willing to do it..”

“yes……”

It’s not like there weren’t any similar cases in my previous life…

“I don’t really understand why Papa made Fili the king.”

“…”

“I had to become one because he won the bid without my permission in the will. …… I guess he thought that Fili could do it. Dad, you worked so hard to be king, there was no way …… that Fili could serve.. ”

When I was at a loss for an answer, King Gauss opened his mouth.

“For me, this is normal.”

“Normal… what is ?”

“It’s only natural to become a king at my age. It doesn’t matter if you’re young, the former king will handle the government affairs. This is the tradition of the royal family of giants.”

“Oh… is that so?”

“Long ago, when the king and his experienced entourage happened to die prematurely, the former king returned to the political arena.”

Including the history, it is the same as the political form that was practiced in Japan in my previous life.

Shortly after I returned from the continent, the retired emperor, who had already abdicated, became Chiten no Kimi, and took the helm of government affairs in place of the young emperor.

“It’s late at night”

The one who suddenly spoke was King Plushe.

“For tonight, it’s time to finish, Maou-sama. I’m sleepy.”

King Plushe yawns.

Come to think of it, they had talked quite a bit.

“… That’s certainly true. Everyone helped a lot today. Please take a good rest.”

“Saying that, I leave my seat.”

Then I turned on my heels and left the room in the Demon King’s Castle.