Chapter 228
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
They walked down the corridor again, looking toward the training grounds.
They headed for the mages’ laboratory.
The place where six court mages had conducted their research and meetings was now occupied by a woman.
“Have you arrived?”
A peculiar woman with pointed ears and dark skin, yet whose beautiful appearance remained unchanged.
She had once belonged to the race called dark elves; now, she was the last dark elf.
Her name was Linne.
She was the woman once called the director of the research institute.
“You had the Traumas produced just as I wanted. I thank you for that.”
When Gokma complimented her, she looked baffled.
“Trauma…?”
“The masses with those eyeballs.”
“They already go by the name Mental Jammer, though….”
“A straightforward name isn’t fun, is it? Names are most enjoyable when you hear what other people call them. Trauma—it sounds nice, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose so.”
Whatever the name, it did not matter.
Linne brushed the matter aside and continued her report.
“Using the materials you provided, we mass-produced 525 Knight-class demons, and they are awaiting orders.”
“525….”
A smile spread across Gokma’s face.
That number was by no means large.
Even if they had an army that size, a force of one hundred thousand soldiers would overwhelm them without difficulty.
But were they ordinary Knight-class demons?
The number was 525, but they were not the same as 525 ordinary demons.
They were demons blessed by Legion, the land founded on the principle that all lives were equal.
With dozens of hearts and dozens of heads, they would revive no matter how many times they were killed and throw themselves back into battle.
If they merely caught the hundred-thousand-strong army off guard, wiping it out would be easy.
“And there is one unusual point….”
Linne said this while casting a sidelong glance at King Heinkel.
“One of them is stubbornly resisting the blood.”
“That one would be….”
“The man who calls himself your friend, Heinkel.”
Ferry Yurei.
He had arrived leading an army of more than ten thousand, but had naturally suffered a brutal defeat.
Contrary to his declaration that he would fight to the bitter end, the overwhelming disparity in strength quickly destroyed his will to fight.
Two thousand were lost, and it took only two minutes for that number to disappear.
The remaining eight thousand all became subjects of the Kingdom of Heinkel.
Except for exactly one person.
Gokma stroked his chin and asked,
“How unusual. What is normally done when something like this happens?”
“It is unusual, but there is no need to fixate on one such case. As a living creature, he is no different from a second-rate knight; he is merely a Knight-class demon. It would be best either to expose him to Trauma until he collapses or simply kill him—”
“That won’t do.”
King Heinkel reacted immediately.
“Ferry must witness what I am seeing. For that, he must remain alive.”
“How insolent. For a human.”
Linne frowned and glared at him.
“The work I am doing is already overwhelming, and now I have to indulge your stubbornness as well?”
“You must. Yurei is my friend.”
“It is an obsession. You have developed it because you never walked the path of a demon.”
“And you are no different from a demon, are you?”
His hollow eyes pierced through Linne.
“Do not mistake me for a fool. I know you are different from the demons being made here. You are neither demon nor elf. You are merely a being making an ugly struggle to survive.”
“Are you trying me? You have grown arrogant now that you have become a great mage.”
“That is enough.”
Gokma stepped in with a faint smile.
He collected his thoughts and spoke to Linne.
“Linne.”
“Yes.”
“Let me make one thing clear. Keep that man named Yurei alive at all costs. At the same time, continue the work of turning him into a demon.”
“That is… far too inefficient. Rather than doing that, we have no choice but to borrow the power of the Mental Jammer—no, Trauma, and force him to submit….”
“That is an order.”
Gokma brought his index finger to his lips, indicating that he would say no more.
“Understood.”
“Then please work a little longer. They will be attacking before long, after all.”
“Lord Gokma.”
The question that had arisen as Linne watched the back of Gokma’s head—
Yet the question she should have let pass ultimately slipped from her lips.
“Am I… still useful?”
Linne’s clenched fist began to tremble.
Gokma gave no answer.
Instead, he left without offering her any indication, and the question echoed hollowly before fading away.
* * *
Everyone watched as Erdes, the president of the Magic Society, was escorted away by the Blue-Eyed Tower Master.
Since she had used such devastating magic, the allied and imperial armies had gathered at the Imperial Army’s outpost and were awaiting the decision regarding her fate.
When the decision was made, Ferda sat at the table alongside those who had received it.
“Are you out of your mind, Regent!?”
Ureas shouted at the top of his lungs.
It felt as though they had gone through something like this only a few hours ago.
The difference was that Ureas was not the only one who was angry.
“It was unavoidable.”
Ferda calmly explained his situation.
“Tower Master Iorga came after learning of this and asked me to hand over custody of her.”
“And you just handed her over!?”
“The president of the Magic Society caused no end of damage to our base by doing such a thing!”
The other kings also joined in, pressing Ferda.
They were people who wanted to somehow profit from this incident.
“Why not put the diplomatic matters aside and focus on the matter at hand? For now, the best course is to capture the demons and determine who was at fault.”
“Do you really think so?”
Olivia—in other words, Ureas’s brain—asked the question.
It was an unexpected turn of events.
“What benefit is there to the Empire in releasing a criminal who nearly cut the army in half through her arbitrary actions?”
She glared at Ferda and pressed him along with the others.
Why on earth was she acting like this?
Ferda looked at Olivia with a slightly bewildered expression, and she said,
“You cannot possibly be unaware that the president of the Magic Society is allied with the Crown Prince. Are you certain she has no intention of playing both sides between Alexander and us?”
Ferda came up with a hypothesis.
This woman was pointing out the suspicions that ought to be raised in advance, pretending to keep Ferda in check.
If there was a reason for it, it was surely connected to Ureas.
Just look at those pleased eyes.
He was delighted that his sister had taken his side.
But Ferda knew.
Even if Olivia were to betray them, she would never side with Ureas.
Ferda decided to play along for the moment.
“That will not happen. The Crown Prince intends to pressure the Far East, so what glory would she hope to gain by swearing loyalty to him?”
“Then I am telling you not to do anything pointless. I do not know what grand cause you are pursuing, Regent Ferda, but if you continue like this, our Empire will have no choice but to reconsider its support and your autonomy.”
Olivia’s eyes were vicious.
The way she firmly suppressed even the rebellious impulse rising within her was extraordinary.
It was a relief that she was not an enemy.
Ferda continued to explain himself.
“The president of the Magic Society will not be able to evade responsibility for this. And since her sudden intervention, verbal abuse, and unauthorized magic also harmed our allies, I received a promise from her that she would not interfere until this matter was concluded. If punishment is necessary, we can also bring the matter before the Grand Council.”
“That is not what I mean.”
Olivia spoke bluntly to Ferda, sounding frustrated.
“A demon has entered this conflict, and the devil’s magic has become involved. Even so, is the way the president of the Magic Society takes responsibility simply to stay out of it?”
Olivia shouted as though it were horrifying.
“That is impossible! Wouldn’t it be right to make her apologize for her arbitrary actions, then have her participate in this war and lend her strength?”
“That would indeed be right, but….”
The kings’ faces took on anxious expressions at those words.
“There is no need for that, little sister.”
Ureas was the one who contradicted her.
The pleased expression on his face had now turned to bewilderment.
“The president acted arbitrarily in the first place, having judged that we could manage well enough without her intervention.”
“But if such a massive force is available, shouldn’t it be summoned through the Grand Council even if she is not the president of the Magic Society?”
Olivia gave Ferda a subtle glance.
She meant for him to play along, but it was difficult to tell which side she wanted him to take.
He spoke, feeling that he might as well take a shot.
“No.”
She then gave him a slight smile, subtle enough that only Ferda could notice.
It seemed to be the correct answer.
Ferda continued,
“In this situation, I think it is better to proceed as we are than to have the arrogant Magic Society join us and throw our strategy into confusion.”
“That is right!”
“The Regent is in the right this time.”
“How could you make such a judgment in a place overrun by demons….”
Olivia muttered, expressing her regret.
The voices condemning Ferda lost their force, and King Hudret naturally changed the subject.
“Have you finished with the emotional matters?‘
He had not said a word amid the exchange of raised voices.
“Let us discuss releasing the president later and focus on the task at hand.”
His fingers pressed firmly against the table.
“The president of the Magic Society has also agreed not to intervene any further. Did we hear anything about what the dragons intend to do?”
Since the enemy’s potential forces were far greater than expected, there was even a possibility that the dragons might intervene.
Ferda answered.
“I asked the Tower Master about that as well. The Tower Master said that humans could resolve this matter and would not intervene unless necessary.”
“So, with the dragons absent, we can proceed with the strategy we were given.”
“That is correct.”
“Then what more is there to discuss? We can return.”
When he rose from his seat, the other kings also began to stand.
There was a wildness about him, like the unquestionable leader of a wolf pack.
“There is still something to discuss.”
“What is it?”
“The Blue-Eyed Tower Master left me with some insight.”
Ferda told them about the conversation he, Erika, and Erdes had shared.
How Gokma had stopped Erdes’s attack alone and even launched a counterattack.
What kind of explosion King Heian’s infiltrator had caused.
And how countless holders of Red Circles could be mass-produced continuously inside.
“So they are stimulating emotions to mass-produce Red-Circle mages and use them as mana sources….”
“So that is how the man named Gokma was able to stop that attack alone.”
“I thought the magic called Legion would be troublesome, but combined with the demons’ cunning, it has produced something beyond our imagination.”
They were awed by the demons’ stratagem, which had stopped the greatest spell created by the greatest mage on the continent.
Ferda seized the mood and asked them,
“Now that we have obtained new information, I feel that we need to revise our strategy as well.”
“We will have to revise it.”
King Hudret added,
“We need to push forward more boldly.”
“What do you mean by more boldly?”
“Let us think about it simply. The enemy we face is not an ordinary castle, but a colossal giant—a magic-wielding giant named Heinkel. Think of us as germs entering that giant’s stomach. How could we bring the giant down?”
“We should spread out as much as possible rather than remain clustered together.”
Gamigin’s Legion draws in the loyalty of everyone within its domain and thereby wields absolute power.
In other words, the accepted theory was that killing those who were loyal would weaken the king’s power as well.
Based on those hypotheses, the most effective approach was to leave no survivors.
That had been the original strategy as well.
“King Heinkel will drive his subjects to their deaths to preserve his own life, and we have realized that we can no longer give him any openings. We must spread quickly and widely, without leaving survivors, and ruthlessly cut off his sources of supply.”
“If we spread out farther to attack… wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
King Hudret, who had been filled with anticipation, clicked his tongue.
“Did you come here thinking war was child’s play? What kind of thing is that to say?”
He had spoken unnecessarily and only ended up humiliating himself.
“Let us work out the operation in a little more detail.”
There was not much to the operation itself.
They had only approached close enough to pound on the outer castle’s gates, with no idea what tactics the enemy would use or how many troops were stationed in the inner castle.
They had only a broad framework, and each force’s ability to improvise would have to shine.
“The all-out battle will be in three days. Until then, let us keep sending them gifts with the siege engines and wear down their strength. What do you think, Second Prince?”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
“Then, with no objections, let us bring this to a close.”
The commander of the allied army, King Hudret, rose from his seat, and all the kings stood as well.
They exchanged greetings out of courtesy and left the operational command post.
They did not forget to greet Olivia, either.
“It was an honor to meet you.”
“Who could have imagined meeting a princess in a battlefield like this?”
“Next time, I hope to see you in a banquet hall as the flower of a feast, not as the flower of a battlefield.”
As warmth emerged in the austere setting, the kings smiled as though they had regained their youth.
Olivia also greeted them one by one with a gentle smile, and at last King Hudret stood before her.
“King Hudret, take care on your way back.”
“There’s no need to try so hard.”
“Pardon?”
“Regrettably, I am already spoken for. Even if you radiate that much sensuality, I am not easily bewitched.”
“Oh my, whatever do you mean?”
Olivia put on a wounded expression, and King Hudret gave her a brief smile as though even that was adorable before turning away.
Watching his back, Ferda could not help thinking how absurd it was.
‘Faithful to his instincts, yet somehow not.’
A man who was both wild and rational.
Ferda thought he was a truly peculiar man.
* * *
Two days before the all-out battle,
“I have a report.”
A dark-skinned woman named Garnet came to Ferda’s tent and spoke.
She was both the head of the Merchants’ Guild and an upper-class citizen, and on this expedition she held the position of supply commander.
Of course, that position was merely a pretext.
Her actual mission was to act, together with her subordinates, as a liaison relaying the current status of the allied and imperial armies.
“The twenty trebuchets prepared for the allied and imperial armies began bombardment today.”
The siege of the Kingdom of Heinkel had begun in earnest.