## Chapter 172 – Collusion (16)
Following that, she embraced Number 25 without a word. Occasionally, she would rub her cheek against him or stroke his head, appearing endlessly affectionate to any observer. However, that affection could feel like violence to someone.
Number 25 swallowed a groan, his face contorted in pain.
It felt like his bones were being crushed. She didn’t mean any harm. Wasn’t it common for people to gently pet or affectionately hug animals or cute puppies they liked? To her, this series of actions wasn’t much different.
However, she had simply forgotten her own strength.
A monster who could easily take a life with a mere touch, that monster’s affection was too much for a lesser being to handle.
Would all his ribs break? Just as he was having that thought, Charlotte stopped her.
“That’s enough, don’t you think? This child is quite shy.”
Hearing Charlotte’s words and seeing Number 25’s expression, Clara finally realized what she had done.
“Oh my, are you alright?”
Number 25’s face was pale. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to escape her embrace. But could an ant crushed under a boot free itself? If asked that way, the answer was ‘no.’ Overwhelmed by her immense strength, Number 25 might have lost consciousness if Charlotte hadn’t intervened just a bit later.
Escaping from Clara’s embrace, Number 25 staggered towards Charlotte. Charlotte gently stroked Number 25’s head as if to say he had suffered, and then remained silent for a moment.
Watching the awkward silence continue, Orca broke the stillness with a playful remark.
“Dying embraced by those boobs would be a pretty good death, though.”
Jane put down the teacup she was holding and glared at them before speaking.
“Aren’t you causing too much of a ruckus in someone else’s territory? What about Acer’s position?”
Veronica widened her eyes as if surprised by Jane’s words and asked back.
“What’s with you caring about other people’s business?”
“It’s just that your actions are grating on me right now.”
“Our actions? From the start, didn’t we all come here for the same purpose? Sorry to Acer, but depending on the circumstances, we might have to…”
Veronica trailed off, glancing at Number 25, and Jane’s brow furrowed fiercely for a moment. It was a sudden change of emotion that one wouldn’t expect from her, who had been quietly observing the situation until now.
“Really? So that’s the intention you guys came here with?”
It was a fleeting moment.
No one in the room had time to react. Black tendrils, like spiderwebs, extended from Jane’s body and latched onto everyone in the room except for Charlotte and Number 25.
Those who knew her abilities well knew better than anyone what this meant.
The somewhat bewildered expression she had initially worn disappeared, replaced by hostility. Veronica had already grabbed an axe much larger than her own frame and was glaring at Jane.
“Hey, can I take this as a declaration of war?”
Orca didn’t immediately prepare to retaliate like Veronica, but she was still running her mouth.
“I’m in. Shouldn’t we take this opportunity to properly sort out the hierarchy?”
As soon as Jane heard Orca’s words, she scoffed and sneered.
“Hierarchy? Have you already forgotten the times you lost to me multiple times and begged for your life? Should I remind you of the old days?”
“That sounds good. You don’t actually think things are still the same as back then, do you?”
“I don’t think your skills are the same as back then. However, the result will be the same.”
It wasn’t a confident tone. Just a quietly subdued and calm tone, which made it feel as if that very demeanor was proving Jane’s skill. In fact, even in this situation, she had never been the first to move.
Clara’s eyes, who could be said to be at the starting point of this situation, were shaking greatly. If necessary, she had been thinking of eliminating Number 25, but that was only because his existence could cause chaos. In other words, she had followed them to this place for the sake of her beloved territory, for the balance of those living in this world, not because she herself enjoyed fighting.
Amidst an atmosphere that felt like it would explode with the slightest touch, it was Jane herself, of all people, who first proposed a truce.
“I don’t want to do this either. It’s unsettling to do this to people I’ve known for so long.”
Veronica, as if not understanding, put strength into the hand holding the axe and said.
“You were the one who started it, weren’t you?”
She was in a state where she would charge at any moment if a convincing reason wasn’t given. Jane glanced at Charlotte and Number 25 once, then opened her mouth with a short sigh.
“I’m warning you guys. Messing with that guy will be troublesome for everyone. No, I’ll make it clear here and now. It’ll be much better for you if I do this now.”
When Jane finished speaking to that point, Orca seemed to understand roughly. In fact, she was the first to withdraw her fighting spirit and sit down. That’s why Veronica couldn’t understand the current situation even more.
Wasn’t Orca known to everyone as a crazy bitch who never missed a fight? This situation would be good for such an Orca. In the midst of the tense atmosphere, Jane barely opened her mouth.
“…Do you want to make Low your enemy?”
At the same time as those words, the sound of an axe clattering to the floor rang out. Veronica looked at Charlotte with trembling eyes. As if wanting confirmation, Charlotte had no choice but to start talking.
“Yes, that’s right. I can’t tell you the full story, but Low-nim is particularly fond of this child. If something were to happen to his well-being…”
Charlotte trailed off there. Rather, that appearance made them imagine what would happen later. The greatest fear comes from the unknown. Lahart, known to everyone as the strongest, was very friendly, showed his face often, and did a lot of external activities, so he didn’t have a very scary image. But she was different.
The time when she stepped down from the front lines and stopped her activities was very long ago, but her name was still valid. If you were a generation that grew up watching her, you couldn’t help but feel it more strongly.
Veronica, who had lost her will to fight, scratched her head roughly and asked Orca a question.
“Did you know?”
“More or less.”
After that conversation, silence continued for a while. Clara thought that all of this had happened because of her hasty actions and was unable to look everyone in the eye. Charlotte slowly opened her mouth to ease this stiff atmosphere.
“You came all the way here, but the atmosphere is too harsh.”
Veronica leaned back against the sofa again and said in a voice drained of strength.
“Actually, you all know, right? The fact that we didn’t come here for good reasons.”
Immediately after, she pointed at Number 25 with her hand and made a serious face.
“Regardless of Low, that thing is dangerous.”
Number 25 looked dejected at the sharp gazes directed at him. He couldn’t even remember when he had felt such pure hostility.
“I saw it at the tournament, so I know. The power he uses is one thing, but the changes that guy will bring are by no means light.”
Number 25, who had been silent until now, opened his mouth for the first time as if questioning.
“The changes I will bring?”
“Yeah, you’re not going to say you don’t know, are you?”
“Veronica!”
Despite Clara’s dissuasion, she, who had started to get heated up to her head, began to blurt out even the contents that had been decided to be kept secret.
“The birth of a new Demon King… we can’t just stand by and watch something like that!”
Number 25 widened his eyes at the words he was hearing for the first time and looked at Veronica.
“Ha…! You really don’t know anything, do you? Didn’t Acer give you any hints? You’re really raising him like a greenhouse flower.”
Wasn’t she being particularly sensitive to the birth of a new Demon King? Veronica was unstable to the point where it felt like that. Charlotte gently stroked Number 25’s head, who was overwhelmed by Veronica’s momentum, and calmed him down.
Veronica continued without regard for the changes in his feelings.
“You wouldn’t know. No, you can continue to live so peacefully now because you don’t know.”
Charlotte looked at Veronica’s expression with a worried look. Veronica, who was flushed red and breathing heavily, looked like she would collapse from anger at any moment. What on earth had made her so consumed by hatred?
“Wouldn’t it be better to stop there?”
It was Jane who stopped Charlotte’s restraint.
“…If the path he walks is the path of the Demon King, he must know. We have no justification to stop him.”
Charlotte closed her mouth and waited for Veronica’s next words. It was an answer that everyone except Number 25 knew in that place.
“What we are truly afraid of is change.”
After taking a brief breath, Veronica pointed to Orca, who was standing still, and said.
“Except for the exceptional case where that cripple killed the Demon King on a whim and took his place, there are almost no cases where the Demon King is newly born or inherited. When they get old and lose their strength, they just quietly hand it over to their successor.”
Veronica’s next words, which continued in silence, made Number 25 able to understand all the actions they had committed.
“The birth of a new Demon King is the same as the birth of a new Outer God. It often appears in fairy tales, right? The Demon King and the Hero are inseparable, right? Those bastards who should be torn to death immediately seem to feel that very well. Do you understand what I’m saying now? How much of a nuisance your existence is to the guys who are maintaining a peaceful life right now.”
