Chapter 193

Evade the Hero and Flee! 193 #22. Well, this is merely the beginning (8) >

#8 Their circ.u.mstance: Belegreas circ.u.mstance

My hand working overtime came to a stop.

Was it because Ive been writing with a pen for too long? My wrist was screaming in pain.

Mm

I stretched both of my arms and yawned loudly, but that caused my entire body to scream in pain, too, starting from my shoulders.

Ouch

No matter how well-trained my body was, the fatigue from sitting behind a desk for who-knows-how-long was still difficult to endure.

So much time has pa.s.sed already.

I turned my head and looked outside the window, realising that the sun had set before I noticed it and the cool moonlight was flooding in. Was it nighttime already?

It felt like Id been working nonstop for the past half a day without eating anything.

Isnt it fine to call it a day?

So tired Ive been pulling all-nighters for the past few days in a row, and my fatigue level steadily acc.u.mulated during that time. Especially my mental fatigue

Hah-ah Just a little bit more, then

However, a shock far more graver than any mental fatigue still lingered in my head. I wasnt the only one suffering from it, though.

Everyone present in that location at that moment mustve all felt that shock, too. I mean, quite a few of Aggreahrts subordinates still havent accepted the reality even now, after all.

Who knows what they will do once they finally get over the shock? Before they caused a problem later, I had to settle things down in our unified demon continent as quickly as possible. Thats my duty, after all.

Ah

Unfortunately, my hand holding the pen didnt want to move at all. The memories from that day reared their head again, you see.

Hah-ah I should get some fresh air. That should help.

After deciding that a bit of a break would do me a world of good, I got up from my chair and walked up to the window. My cautiously extending hand opened the window pane, letting in the moonlight and the still-cold night wind to brush past my face.

Unfortunately for me, the memories inadvertently recalled didnt want to go back to the deeper recess of my mind. Actually, the moonlight proved to be effective in making me recall those moments even more vividly.

I closed my eyes, causing the events of that day to play themselves out oh-so clearly in my head.

*

A few days ago

, the demon races greatest general, Aggreahrt, was executed. Despite his fame, his final moments werent what youd call honourable in the slightest.

Kuwaaaahk!

The demons following behind Aggreahrt could only stand there and dazedly witness the figure of their gallant general scream pitifully after a little girl began beating him up.

That sight was just too unrealistic for anyone to behold, after all. Even I ended up thinking that it made no sense at all when the beatdown began.

That is really Aggreahrt?

My jaw fell all on its own, and I ended up staring in disbelief.

Aggreahrt, the commander of the demon races most powerful combat force was no longer here. The one replacing him was a loser screaming wretchedly while crying like a baby in front of his subordinates.

Kuwaaaaahk?!

If you knew what Aggreahrt was like No, even if you heard about him in pa.s.sing rumours, youd never, ever believe that he was capable of screaming so viscerally and with such primal emotions, too!

P-please, no! No mooooore!

If I hadnt already experienced the beatdown of the silver-haired girl referred to as the Demon G.o.ds Blessing, I wouldve thought that Aggreahrt was putting on an act to make me lower my guard.

But thats how wretched and pitiful the current Aggreahrt looked. So much so that even I, his sworn enemy, couldnt bear to look at the torment he was in.

S-save Lord Aggreahrt, now!

One of Aggreahrts stupefied subordinates eventually sobered up and cried out desperately, prompting his comrades to charge straight at the silver-haired girl.

Unfortunately, most of them fell powerlessly from the human heros blade. As for the rest

Kuuuwaaaaahk!

Even those who managed to slip past the hero to reach Aggreahrt collapsed while screaming in pure agony. No one had attacked them, however. No, they simply tried to attack the arms of the silver-haired girl, but they promptly collapsed and started screaming right afterwards.

Is someone sniping at us?!

Dammit! Even though the ma.s.sive magic cannons are still firing away?

They had backup magicians on standby!

We must rescue our sovereign no matter what!

The demon race scanning their surroundings tried to rush to the side of Aggreahrt, but none of them was able to stop the silver girl.

One by one

As the combatants attacking the silver girl fell one by one, other demons watching on finally began realising something.

And that was They were not being sniped at all! And their wretched screams were the exact same primal scream that their sovereign was making!

C-can it be?! Merely attacking that child will cause that situation?!

Its impossible to attack her, and shes so terrifying that even Lord Aggreahrt ended up in that state?!

But, but! An illogical creature like that cannot possibly exist! Either theres special magic or sorcery cast on that child, or were being fed false information through illusion magic! Im sure about this!

T-thats right! Theres no way a monster like that can really exist!

Their voices were getting louder in an effort to hypnotise themselves, but well They should be aware of how much their voices were trembling right now.

As if to prove my point, none of the soldiers raising their voices wanted to take the first step forward. They simply watched their sovereign screaming away from some distance away.

A short while later, in this location where even the hero had stopped moving around

Only the noises of Aggreahrts screaming, the incoherent chatter of the silver girl, and the intermittent firing of the cannons could be heard now.

P-please

And everyone present finally got to witness it.

They witnessed Aggreahrts primal screaming morph into ardent pleas. They witnessed his ardent pleas morph into rage-filled curses and rants. And then, his rage-filled curses and rants became a pitiful little whisper of voice filled with utter desperation.

Kill me now

We all witnessed Aggreahrt begging to be killed.

I shall humour your request. The human hero watching on quietly walked up to Aggreahrt.

The silver-haired girl observing this situation grumbled inaudibly, but she still stepped aside for the hero. Thats because everything that happened until now was unfolding exactly as our current demon king, Marcus, had envisioned.

Im envious. Of how you can find peace now. The hero muttered that out while looking at the downed Aggreahrt, then he raised his sword up.

Did Aggreahrt take those words as an insult? He gathered what remained of his energy to raise his fallen head and glared at the hero.

I was never given that opportunity, you see.

But Aggreahrts head faltered back to the ground after he heard the heros follow-up words. He had sensed how sincerely envious the hero was from the latters expression.

How is that thing even

Aggreahrt, his throat too hoa.r.s.e from all that screaming, barely managed to squeeze those words out with his dying voice.

Those words seemed incomprehensible even if you were right next to Aggreahrt. But the human hero and I both had experienced the soul-rending agony before, and we could understand Aggreahrt perfectly well.

-Just what on earth is that irrational creature?!

That monstrosity was capable of turning a swordmaster, a hero and even the demon races greatest general into the same thing with just one hit. That same thing being a powerless wreck that could only scream in agony!

Your physique or mental fort.i.tude cultivated through arduous training meant nothing in front of the silver-haired girl. Youd simply turn into a creature that knew nothing but how to open your mouth and scream.

The pain that you could never get used to The sense of powerlessness that dominates you, where it feels like you cant even lift a finger!

The agony of repeatedly going through both could only be understood by those who had experienced it. It was only obvious that youd become curious about the silver-haired girl capable of creating such a nonsensical phenomenon.

Aggreahrt chose to spend his final-words-before-death allowance on finding out the true ident.i.ty of that silver creature.

That thing The hero glanced at the silver-haired girl some distance away for a second or two before opening his mouth again. The Evil No, I mean, the Demon G.o.ds uh Blessing in the eh physical form Something like that

From the way he stuttered and stumbled with his words, it sounded like he was changing around what he initially wanted to say. Even so, Aggreahrt didnt doubt the hero at all.

I see

At the end of those faltering words, the heros sword finally made its descent. One clean strike later, Aggreahrts head was separated from the rest of his body.

That was an empty, lonely death of the demon races greatest general, the one who almost succeeded in taking over the throne of the demon king.

*

Hah-ah

I sighed and opened my eyes to stare at the bright moon s.h.i.+ning away in the middle of the night sky.

I wanted to take a short break, but now I feel more tired

While closing the window, I continued to sigh away.

Despite taking a break, I ended up even more tired. No need to mention the reason for that, of course.

I settled back down on my chair and began delving into the mountains of doc.u.ments waiting for me. Aggreahrts death was a monumental event indeed, but the demon continent as a whole didnt fall into chaos as I initially feared.

First of all, the witnesses to Aggreahrts final moments were powerful demons that broke through the magic cannon bombardment through their own strength. Most of them were either chieftains or direct subordinates of a chieftain.

And they all witnessed Aggreahrts death with their own two eyes. In the process, they also witnessed Aggreahrts pitiful figure, something they had never seen before.

They watched it happen without being able to lift a single finger. The shock of the moment prevented them from doing something. No, wait. Maybe itd be more correct to say that they didnt do anything.

The witnesses didnt oppose Demon King Marcuss commands. They simply disarmed themselves at his order and returned to their individual tribes.

I, too, followed his order to regroup my faction, and they have gathered here in the demon kings castle. We were currently focusing on repairing the castle and resolving various issues plaguing the demon continent.

My lady.

Old man

The demon with a lizards head, the Old Man Mekel, opened the door and stepped inside my office.

My lady, I thought youve gone to bed by now.

I still have lots of work left, you see. I smiled bitterly while pointing at the pile of doc.u.ments on my desk.

Demon King Marcus didnt work. Like, none at all. He handed over the authority to resolve all matters to me and at the same time, dumped all the work on my shoulders.

Honestly, I could declare, Im the demon king now! and everyone would start nodding along in agreement at this point!

He seemed to value his time spent entertaining his daughter in the Demon G.o.ds temple more than actually working as a ruler.

-Ng, thats it! You gotta wake up, girl! Hes busy lying to you!

A womans voice rang inside my head once more. She sounded so mystical and holy that if a deity was really speaking to me, her voice must sound like this.

-Y-yeah, youre right! Im really your G.o.d! Belegrea, you gotta wake up!

However, the follower of the Demon G.o.ds will, Demon King Marcus, had declared thus: the insidious Evil G.o.d had already infiltrated the demon continent, and its influence was growing stronger every day. Thats why he was asked by the Demon G.o.d to become her Apostle despite being a human being.

The Demon G.o.d received a.s.sistance from the G.o.ddess of Nature to bring Marcus and his group to the demon continent. Apparently, the G.o.ddess of Nature tended to be surprisingly neutral despite being a deity of the humans. Through the n.o.ble will of the Demon G.o.d, I encountered Marcus in that snowy field out of nowhere.

To say he was lying His replies to my questions had always been utterly convincing, to say the least. And the human hero next to him also swore under the G.o.ddess of Natures name that everything Marcus said was true.

-N-no, they are lying! That idiot hero was simply subdued by all the violence hes subjected to, thats all!

The human hero was subdued?

Even though that sounded nonsensical, if it was that silver-haired girl, it seemed quite doable somehow.

-Y-yes, thats it! You got it!

If Im being honest, this voice ringing inside my head has managed to shake my belief just a bit. No, wait. Before all that, I must admit that I didnt want to acknowledge Marcus as the true demon king in the first place.

-Y-yes, youre on the right track! Belegrea! If you combine your strength with my soon-to-arrive real apostle, you can definitely defeat the vile, evil, scheming seeds of

The voice sounded rather desperate, which didnt suit the previous description of how holy it was, and it began clinging onto me.

If this voice really belonged to the Demon G.o.d, then I have to be honest, the image I had of her would start to crumble a bit Nope, make that itd crumble by a lot!

-W-well, I dont have a choice right now

Well, sure. Lets say the voice was right.

If Marcus really wasnt the demon king chosen by the Demon G.o.d, then this situation was easily the absolute worst one in the history of the demon continent.

Simply put, both the Demon G.o.ds temple and the throne of the demon king had been taken over by a human. To think that a human was now in a position to do whatever he wanted with the demon continent!

-Thats right, Belegrea! The demon continent finds itself in its most dangerous crisis yet! Thats why you!

In that case, oh the mighty Demon G.o.d. Please step forward and save our demon continent.

-Eh?

The demon continent is in danger, so we need the help of our Demon G.o.d.

-N-no, wait! I cant touch those punks, you see! Thats why Ive been asking for your help!

Why was a G.o.d called a G.o.d?

We called them G.o.ds because no other creature out there could disobey their will unless it was another G.o.d.

This land wasnt the human continent but the demon continent. The land permeating in the Demon G.o.ds will, home to countless many demon race folks! Even if G.o.ds were restricted by the worlds laws, the Demon G.o.d should still be able to exercise her authority with such favourable conditions.

I was confident of this, and my proof was all the recorded history of the demon race.

-B-but, its a bit different this time, you know

Oh, you Evil G.o.d, be gone!

-C-calling me Evil G.o.d?! You actually compared me to that rotten piece of trash!

After that, the voice stopped ringing in my head. I thought that the speaker sounded rather shocked judging from her parting words, but thats not something I should concern myself with.

My lady?

Ah, yes, old man.

I had been keeping my eyes closed after the voice came to me. Opening them treated me to the sight of the Old Man Mekel.

My lady. Marcus has contacted us to relay a message to you. He asks for your presence at the Demon G.o.ds temple tomorrow.

But, I already gave him the report on our progress yesterday?

He said that the matter tomorrow is of grave importance.

I nodded to indicate that I understood, then had the old man return.

We had no choice but to follow Marcuss orders in our current situation, anyway. I didnt see a need to keep the old man here and grill him when he had been locked up in a prison cell and got tortured for a long time.

Besides, that man, Marcus, did lots of totally random things, to begin with.

Congratulations! Oh, the demon king chosen by the demon race!

The problem here is that hes just too unpredictable, thats all!