Chapter 66 – Ping
“A long time. You did a good job killing my pet.”
The warrior, who had been hardened while fist bumping into the demon king, recalled the surrounding situation and realized that he was at a disadvantage.
There was no armor or sword to attend the banquet, and the surroundings were full of defenseless nobles.
Unable to pick up a weapon, there was no chance of victory in a situation full of hostages around.
When I was thinking about how to take the demon king and move the place, the demon king who suddenly took a step back looked at the warrior and said calmly.
“Calm down. I didn’t come here with the intention of fighting.”
“… What?”
Saying that, the demon king took a step back, and did not feel any fighting spirit.
He didn’t believe that he had no intention of fighting, but once the hero followed the demon king, he took a step back.
Whether that statement was true or false, there was no change in the fact that the demon king was in an advantageous situation.
As the hero took a step back, the demon king pointed at Marta, who was glaring at him from behind as if to kill him, and said,
“The woman over there, must be a priest?”
“… That’s right.”
“Then heal the fallen humans.”
I don’t know what he was thinking when he said that, but it wasn’t bad for the hero, so he headed for the fallen nobles.
“… We will heal the fallen, but remember, not because of your orders.”
However, when Martha, who was in a bad mood because she seemed to be following the devil’s order, said that, the devil smiled and said,
“You are a woman with a temper.”
While Martha miraculously healed the fallen nobles, the demon king did not budge.
Starting with Mirian, one of the hero’s party members surrounded the demon king, but he blankly looked at the hero as if nothing had happened.
As time passed, the fallen nobles rose up one by one, and the nobles who came to their senses were terrified when they saw the demon king.
Although he must have looked like an ordinary man who could be found anywhere except for a few characteristics, the existence of the Demon King aroused fear just by being there.
Eventually, when all the nobles, including the king, came to their senses, the demon king spoke.
“Looks like everyone woke up.”
It was a middle-aged voice that matched his appearance, but for some reason, I heard a chill from that innocuous voice, as if I had been covered with ice water.
“… If you’re not here to fight, what purpose did you come here for?”
“I have come to declare war.”
The answer to the warrior’s question was surprisingly unexpected.
A war that started unilaterally without a declaration of war has continued until now, and now it has come and declared war out of the blue.
“… It’s a very late declaration of war.”
It was not unreasonable for Madris, who was listening, to inadvertently be sarcastic.
“Don’t be too sarcastic, listen. In the next month, I will order all corps commanders on the front to march.”
Everyone gathered there swallowed their saliva when he said that he would bring blood to the battlefield again.
Anticipating a great war that would soon begin, the demon king continued with everyone closing their eyes.
“… Of course, if you don’t like it, there’s a way to stop it.”
“Am I killing you here?”
At the bold answer, the demon king smiled and nodded.
“There is a way, but it won’t be easy. As you may know, I have the advantage here. But, well, it’s not so wrong… Because if you kill me, everything will end.”
Even if he killed the Demon King, there were still many things left to do, such as dealing with the remnants of the Demon King’s army.
There was a possibility that it was just a slip of the tongue, but the hero who had something on his mind asked the demon king.
“… What do you mean?”
“It is literally. The people who have received my strength will end at the same time as I die.”
“… ?!”
Not everyone in the demon lord’s army received the power of the demon lord, but some of the best among the corps commanders and officers received the power of the demon lord.
‘Then if I can only kill this guy…’
It means that all powers that can be called core powers will disappear and the Demon King’s Army will turn into a rogue.
Realizing that fact, the hero wondered if he could somehow kill the demon king here, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a proper way.
What’s more important now than that is…
“Why are you telling me that?”
Why did the demon king teach the enemy the hero the most hidden secret?
Since it was just a trap, it was unclear why he had to infiltrate the enemy camp alone and do this.
Above all, if the demon king wanted to do it, even if it was difficult for the hero, he could surely kill the hero’s colleagues.
No, maybe a hero without a weapon could kill him right now.
I couldn’t see any reason to sell the trap or even bother to do that, but the answer was surprisingly simple.
“Yeah… It doesn’t mean anything anymore.”
“What?”
“Among my subordinates, there is no one stronger than Carmion. He wouldn’t mean much to him if he fought with such small pups. He hates waiting any longer.”
“…”
Everyone, including the hero, felt as if this was all play, and everyone, including the hero, was furious, but there was nothing good about stimulating the demon king who was about to leave.
Before leaving, the demon king pointed one of his fingers towards the hero for the last time and said.
“Didn’t you say you were going to start an offensive in a month? That one month is the time limit. Come to my castle within that month and kill me. If you succeed in killing me, your victory will bring peace to this world. The opposite… Do you understand without telling me?”
When the scene of defeat came to his mind, the hero did not bother to answer.
He just glared at the demon king with the determination to kill him next time.
As if he liked the hero’s gaze, he grinned and activated the teleportation magic.
While everyone was silent while watching the body of the demon lord slowly disappearing, Lina said with a sad expression as if she had remembered something.
“Now, wait… !!!”
When a sound came from an unexpected place, the hero, madris, and even the demon king stopped their magic and turned to Lina.
“… What.”
When the demon king spoke, no matter how nervous Lina was, she stuttered her words and barely opened her mouth.
“Uh, I don’t know where our demon castle is… Even if you ask me to come back within a month, I can’t go because I don’t know where you are…”
“… Ah.”
Hearing Lina’s words, the hero finally realized that he didn’t know where the castle was.
The hero looked at Madris thinking just in case, but Madris also shook his head silently because he did not know the location of the castle.
“At the edge of the eastern wilderness… Tsk, it’s hard to put into words. Do you have a map?”
She was Lina who usually carried a map, but she didn’t bring it to the banquet hall.
“Hello! Is there anyone? Hurry up and bring the map!!”
Madris shouted, but all the attendants waiting outside passed out, unable to withstand the pressure of the demon king.
Reluctantly, she went back to the room where Lina had been tied up for a while and took her map, while a very uncomfortable time began to flow in the room where there was only silence.
After a while, Lina, who came running with her map in one hand, ran to the Demon King and opened her map.
The Demon King, who had been frozen for a moment while holding the map, pointed to the island at the eastern end and said.
“It’s here. This island at the edge of this eastern wilderness is where my castle is.”
“… It’s too far. How can I get here in a month?”
“Can’t we get there somehow if we take that airship?”
“No, I have to refuel midway through, but there is no place to refuel in an unexplored area… After all, if something breaks, there is no way to fix it.”
“… Then give me two months. Then can we arrive?”
“… No, it takes quite a while even by carriage, so I should give it at least three months.”
“… Yes, three months. Arrive in three months.”
When she handed her map to Lina again and was about to leave this time, Madris stopped her demon lord this time.
“For a moment!”
“… What else?”
“The deadline has been extended to three months. Then, can she interpret it as meaning that the period for starting the march has also been extended to three months?”
“… Okay.”
After those words, the Demon King really used magic and left the palace this time.
After the demon king disappeared, Lina said while looking at the spot where the demon king had been standing a while ago.
“… Whoa, I earned two more months.”
In fact, it was a distance that could be reached in a month because it was just a matter of carrying fuel to the subspace with magic.
******
After the demon king left, the banquet hall was filled with cold and heavy silence that did not match the banquet at all.
In the midst of the shock of actually seeing the demon king and the fear that a war might soon begin, Madris thought.
‘… This is an opportunity.’
It was an unprecedented and serious situation, but it was over once the hero defeated the demon king.
Besides, with the help of an elf named Lina, she gained two months more time, so she had plenty of time for her training.
‘… This isn’t the time to be saving.’
Madris got up from the throne and said to the Hero and the others, who seemed to be leaving for the Devil Castle at any moment.
“Warrior. Let’s go to the treasure house in the royal castle together.”
“Treasure? Why there…”
“I have piled up magic tools worthy of being called royal treasures there. Please do not hesitate and take the magic tool you want.”
“Yes, I will.”
Normally, he was a warrior who would have refused once or twice out of courtesy, but he couldn’t be so relaxed as long as there was a time limit of three months.
Right after Madris, the treasury was a place where gold coins and jewels in various colors were piled up like a mountain.
As soon as I went into the room deeper in the treasure chest, many magic tools were decorated like art or expensive accessories.
“Please use all the magic tools you need here. Of course, you don’t have to ask me for permission.”
After saying that, Madris left the treasure trove, leaving the hero and the others behind, saying that he could choose comfortably without hesitation.
There were so many magic tools in the treasure house, but there were so many that their effects overlapped.
Magic tools had no choice but to choose the number because the higher the effect overlapped, the lower the rate of increase, and in the end, no effect was obtained.
“If it’s the same effect, it’d be better to choose the larger amount of mana.”
As a result, Rose and Yuria, who are sensitive to mana, gathered the magic tools carefully selected and moved them to the center.
While listening to the explanation of magic tools from the two, when everyone was choosing a magic tool to fill in what they lacked.
“…”
Horde, who had read the mood, couldn’t choose anything and stood alone in a daze. The lesser warrior handed Horde the ring he wanted to wear and said,
“Mr Horde. Please accept this ring just in case something happens.”
“… Yes? Ha, but…”
The ring has the effect of amplifying the wearer’s life and has a great effect on maintaining life.
“I have a separate healing ability, so there is no need to decline. The destination is the Demon King’s Castle. Because no one can predict what will happen.”
“…”
Hearing that no one could be sure, Horde, horrified, accepted the warrior’s ring with trembling hands.
“… Thank you.”
Horde put on the ring and said that, and the hero smiled.
However, Martha, who handed the ring to the hero behind him, stared at the Horde with glacier-cold eyes in silence.
‘… Worms.’
