Chapter 33
A harsh voice, like the cry of a monstrous bird, echoed.
The voice was grating, but familiar.
"Gik-gik-gik. Well, well. For a fledgling like this to be counted among the generals... Demon King-sama in the afterlife must surely lament it."
The entrance to the tent opened, and a demon clad in white cloth entered. Leaning on a staff in one hand and dragging one leg behind, the figure was utterly bizarre.
The right hand was grotesquely large, while the left was thin and short like a withered branch. The back was grotesquely hunched, and the gait made it clear that one leg did not move. The face was smooth and childlike, without any contours, yet the voice coming from it was as hoarse as that of an elder who had lived a thousand years.
A deformity.
Seeing the figure, every officer assembled there grimaced.
Among demonkind, deformity was nothing but a source of shame: a failed, defective product. The parent who gave birth to one was treated the same way.
The custom was to dispose of them as cursed children the moment they were born, but sometimes a parent could not kill their own child.
"Gami? It's been a long time, Special Staff Officer."
Gare knew the malformed demon. The two went back a long way.
Gare was a veteran commander in the Demon King's army. When Demon King-sama was still a minor local power, Gare, who likewise commanded a local warband, challenged him and was defeated by overwhelming force. Gare bowed his head before that power, submitted, and from then on fought alongside Demon King-sama across countless battlefields.
On one return from battle, Demon King-sama saw children in his territory bullying another child. That child was Gami.
Normally, the child could have been abandoned, or even cut down as an eyesore, but for whatever reason, Demon King-sama took Gami back with him.
No one thought much of Demon King-sama's whim, likening it to keeping an exotic beast, but during one council of war, a difficult problem arose and the meeting grew heated.
At that point, for some reason, Gami spoke up.
We could have cut the insolent fool down, but Demon King-sama found the suggestion amusing, adopted it, and it produced results.
From then on, Gami won Demon King-sama's favor and was entrusted with several assignments.
At first, Gami's peers laughed, comparing Gami to a dog desperately learning tricks. But after Gami succeeded time and again and eventually came to command subordinates, they could no longer laugh.
Some could not stand being outdone by a defective and attempted to assassinate Gami, but every attempt failed. Gami slipped through death's traps, while the would-be assassins were exposed for past corruption and misconduct, fell from power, and sometimes met suspicious deaths.
Throughout it all, Gami continued to distinguish himself. Especially in the great battles that marked turning points for the Demon King's army, Gami always played a decisive role and made victory certain.
Gami's achievements surpassed those of a general; it would not have been surprising for Gami to be granted a country in the homeland. Yet despite achievements of that magnitude, Gami's current rank was Thousand-Dragon Commander. Literally, that meant no more than a commander in charge of a thousand people. In this tent, that placed Gami roughly on par with the officers participating in the council of war, or their adjutants.
Moreover, as a staff officer, fewer than twenty people were actually under Gami's command. It was little more than a nominal rank.
Gami's rank remained low because every retainer, Gare included, had blocked Gami's advancement.
But even with the path to advancement blocked, Gami did not care, continuing cheerfully to devise new strategies.
Gami was supposed to be a staff officer attached to Rovaine by now, so why come all the way to this front?
"Gare-sama. It has been a long time. But the Second Front Army under your command has declined in quality, hasn't it? To think you would let such a fledgling attend the council of war."
Gami turned his gaze toward the young officer who had spoken earlier.
"What did you say?"
Insulted by the malformed wretch, the officer rose to his feet and reached for his sword. Gami, however, pointed his staff at the officer and laughed.
"You want to go home? You think that's possible? With Demon King-sama gone, a bloody struggle over succession is raging in the homeland. Everyone is frantically scrambling for even a slightly better position. Even our mothers have probably forgotten us by now."
Several of those present lowered their heads at Gami's words.
The homeland was not sending a magic ship because it did not want us to return.
Just as the generals of the front armies here were turning into warlords, the homeland must be embroiled in the same struggle—no, an even more vicious succession struggle. If we returned with a sizable force, it would be like pouring fresh oil onto that chaos. No one would want that.
In other words, no ship home would ever come. If we nevertheless wanted to return, we would have no choice but to build a magic ship here and cross the sea ourselves, but it would probably be impossible to build one without the homeland's facilities.
"How can you fault me for laughing at a fledgling who doesn't even understand that, yet cries out during a council of war, demanding to go home? Return your armor and helmet at once, and start over at military school."
"You bastard! How dare you say that—"
Unable to bear the taunt, the young officer drew his sword.
Gami, who could barely walk, had no means of fighting back. But before the sword could be swung, a huge arm reached through the tent entrance and seized the descending blade.