Fried Egg

Meanwhile, King Hudret had smoothly occupied Duke Yurei’s castle.

It was already an empty house, with not even a rat left to raid the storerooms.

But it was not completely empty.

Valuable goods that could not be taken during the evacuation had been left behind, and the soldiers who had entered without bloodshed were busily scooping them all up.

Duke Yurei’s office had already been converted into King Hudret’s operations room.

“How much money and treasure is there?”

A knight answered King Hudret’s question.

“Enough to fill three wagons—more than 100,000 goldens.”

With the castle and buildings requiring no reconstruction as well, it was more than enough to repay the debts incurred by the war.

“His Grace Duke Yurei certainly is generous. To hand over a castle like this to us without a fight.”

“Most people destroy everything before leaving so they won’t even leave us the scraps.”

“He must mean to leave behind a stronghold where humans can resist the demons.”

“Even so, it’s a little disappointing. We won such a great victory, but there aren’t even any girls here for us to take.”

One of the commanders gave a lewd wiggle of his hips, and another chimed in.

“We should have tried to coax a few of the prettier girls from the duchy.”

“Oh?”

King Hudret casually drove a dagger into the thigh of the commander who had made the lewd remark.

“Ghk!”

“You entered this place without shedding a drop of blood, yet you’re greedy for far too much. Do you want to ruin the kingdom by inviting the curses of those who became spirits with talk like that?”

“N-no, Your Majesty. I-I’m sorry.”

“Next time, I’ll stab your tongue and your crotch. No one else is exempt, either.”

King Hudret was a practical, rational man.

He knew that the curse of the spirits was nothing more than a ghost story created by humans.

Respect for the dead was merely an excuse; he had chosen one man as an example to restore the discipline that had been steadily deteriorating.

Thanks to that, no one was grinning anymore.

“Issue certificates promising that the spoils will be distributed after the war ends. For now, gather them in the castle’s storerooms and post guards over them.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“When will the reinforcements arrive?”

“By tomorrow, a total of 20,000 soldiers and laborers will arrive. We’re rebuilding the defenses based on the plans we recorded, so this place will be a strategic stronghold within a week.”

“Good.”

King Hudret looked down at the battle map, mulling over what to do next.

He had taken the Duchy of Yurei, and all that remained was to head for the Kingdom of Heinkel.

Who could have imagined things would go this smoothly?

Originally, he had planned to make Yurei impatient by drawing out a war of attrition.

While keeping an eye on the Arken Empire, which was looking to feed on the situation, he had intended to secure as much profit as possible.

If things went this well, what should he do next?

‘Advance on the capital.’

King Hudret’s greed was like the maw of a snake.

Once it began swallowing, it had to see things through to the end.

Since he had taken the Duchy of Yurei so easily, King Hudret thought he should take the kingdom’s capital as well.

But there was a factor preventing him from making that decision easily.

“Your Majesty. The scouts who went to investigate enemy territory have returned.”

King Hudret asked the guard who delivered the report,

“Are they on their way to write their report?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Have the stenographer here handle the report, and bring the entire scouting party inside. I’ll hear it from them directly.”

“Understood.”

The guard went to deliver the message, and a short while later, the entire scouting party entered and bowed their heads.

“We greet Your Majesty. Please forgive us for not having had time to freshen up.”

“Give me your report first.”

“First of all, it is certain that they are allied with the demons, just as the rumors said. We detected the presence of demons inside the castle.”

It was unwelcome news.

A fight between humans was easy, but fighting demons was more than merely facing monsters.

“What about infiltrating the inner castle?”

“You mean infiltrating the inner castle?”

“Can’t you even remember what I ordered?”

When he pressed the question, the scout answered.

“No, Your Majesty. We hesitated because we feared disappointing you by admitting that infiltrating the inner castle was difficult. Reaching the inner castle was impossible, but we barely managed to scout the inside of the outer castle.”

“Is that so? What was it like inside?”

“It was quiet as the grave.”

“You mean everyone was dead?”

“No, Your Majesty. There were humans inside, but they did not move at all.”

“What do you mean, they did not move at all?”

“They were lying down, breathing as little as possible and minimizing every movement. It was as though everything….”

He drew a deep breath and answered.

“They were conserving all their energy, like hibernating animals.”

“Humans hibernating….”

“King Heinkel must be using black magic and his own people’s lives as collateral to do something.”

“Demons and black magic… He’s fallen deeply indeed.”

King Hudret grinned and spoke to the captain of the scouting party.

“You’ve worked hard. I wish I could reward you.”

“You honor us.”

“By the way, I never ordered the scouts to infiltrate the inner castle.”

“What? What do you mean—”

SHING!

The scouting party captain’s head left his body and went flying.

The bodyguard knight standing behind him had confirmed King Hudret’s signal and cut him down in a single blow.

“I suspected as much, so I pressed you, and you fell right into the trap. You demon lackeys and impostors.”

“D-damn it!”

The scouts belatedly drew their swords to fight back, but the knights waiting for them had already subdued them.

King Hudret clicked his tongue as he looked down at the corpses.

He lifted the head in front of him and examined the cross-section of its neck.

“These demons are called Dopplers, are they?”

“That’s right.”

“Strange. I heard demons have organs unlike humans’, but this neck looks remarkably similar to a human’s. As rumored, it surpasses a doppelganger. It seems adept at changing its appearance, but can it not absorb its opponent’s knowledge as well?”

He dropped the head onto the floor.

It went rolling toward the soldiers collecting the corpses.

“I’ve learned something new. Doesn’t this mean I now know more about demons than any other army?”

“Indeed.”

The knights spat on the Dopplers’ corpses.

“We almost believed the nonsense these filthy creatures spouted.”

“What do you mean? What they said must certainly have been true.”

King Hudret said this as though he were enjoying himself.

“To spy, you must first earn people’s trust. To earn trust, you have to appear competent. If a spy volunteered as a scout, wouldn’t they offer up the best information first?”

“I see….”

The knights were truly unable to hide their admiration.

He had lured the demons into a trap by lying shamelessly, obtained information, and even eliminated them without repercussions.

Whether it had been planned or improvised, it surprised them all the same.

King Hudret turned their information over in his mind.

An alliance with the demons.

A king who wielded black magic.

Subjects who seemed to be hibernating.

‘That black magic undoubtedly uses the people’s lives as collateral and is a spell that grants immense power.’

The ultimate magic that could bring King Heinkel close to the realm of the superhuman.

As a king pursuing absolute power, he could not help but covet it.

* * *

The bedroom of Castle Valdrova.

Though the night had deepened, Ferda could not fall asleep.

A single remark remained lodged in Ferda’s mind.

‘She’s growing weaker…….’

He could not understand what it meant for her to be growing weaker.

To Ferda’s eyes, her battles had always looked the same.

Even after analyzing the data, there was little difference between when he had first met her and now.

‘If he meant that incredibly bright, jewel-like flame I saw when I first met her.’

That flame had been extraordinarily beautiful and intense.

It had been powerful enough to melt frontenium, which could only be melted in the Primordial Forge.

On the other hand, that fact puzzled him.

‘Why didn’t she show a flame like that when I was trying to kill her?’

He went over his battle with Valdrova again.

Ferda had only barely defeated her, and if she had not chosen to give up her life at the end, he would have died alongside her.

If she had thrown that flame at Ferda, the tide of battle would have turned even further in her favor.

‘And yet she didn’t bring it out.’

It was possible that she had not been serious about that battle itself.

But there was one other possibility.

‘That she really is growing weaker.’

That was what Frontesis had said.

Her firepower was strong enough to melt frontenium, but that flame was not as strong as it had been in her prime.

Of course, he could not rule out the possibility that Frontesis had given him false information.

The two had spoken as though they were very close, but they had not met even once since the Dragon-Demon War, and Ferda did not know what feelings Frontesis harbored.

If he had harbored malicious intentions, he might have said that to make Ferda worry.

‘What exactly is the twilight of the dragons?’

Twilight usually meant death.

For those who called themselves immortals and had ruled for ages, predicting their own deaths was a fatal insult—an outrage that must never be spoken.

‘He said he was growing weaker, and that Valdrova was growing weaker too.’

Were the other dragons like that as well?

Could the passage of time eventually sweep away even beings called immortal?

It was entirely up to Ferda whether he believed it.

But absolute freedom was nothing more than a hollow notion, and that was why Ferda was obsessed with those words.

Ferda wanted, somehow, to understand and resolve these matters.

How could he help her?

In the end, he stayed awake through the night and watched the sunrise.

Luri came inside.

She wheeled in a cart carrying a meal, glanced over Ferda’s complexion, and asked,

“Did you sleep poorly last night?”

Not knowing what sort of response he would get if he said he had been worried about Valdrova, Ferda gave a vague reply.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“I’ll prepare some tea to help you sleep. This is breakfast.”

The breakfast Luri prepared was simple.

A salad, bread, butter, and black tea—the usual morning fare.

The side dishes never changed.

The main dish was the only thing that ever changed, and he looked at the food placed in the center, wondering what it would be today.

The main dish she had prepared today was truly astonishing.

It was so astonishing that Ferda was able to cast off his worries, if only for a moment.

“……?”

He looked at the main dish she had prepared.