Chapter 328 – Episode 328 – Nothing Lasts Forever (3)
Episode 328 – Nothing lasts forever (3)
There was someone’s shape in the darkness. Even if you knew of its existence and looked closely, it seemed as if it had melted into the darkness to the point where you couldn’t recognize it.
“I sent some of the knights there as you said, Archduke.”
Instead of answering, a pale face appeared without any trace. The person who was the Grand Duke of Darkness raised his head.
Schlaner, the wizard who spoke bluntly with his red eyes clearly visible even in the dark, flinched slightly. But he didn’t stop talking.
“If these people are captured or fail, the royal family will be in debt to the Church of Laurecia. “You clearly know that.”
The Archduke responded indifferently.
“Not even your royal family. It doesn’t matter, right? It’s common for humans to fight to take what each other has. Besides, if you’re a noble, there’s nothing more to say. “Why should we worry more when we have already set up a foolish king as a shield?”
However, Schlaner’s expression looked a little anxious. It was the first time that the royal family was directly involved in the affairs of the religious order.
Even if the Church of Laurecia is now nothing more than a toothless lion, it is ultimately the magician’s natural enemy. I had to be careful.
“It doesn’t matter. In that case, what we do…”
“Why don’t you just find another host?”
“… !”
The wizard’s expression became distorted.
The Archduke called Schlaner like a parasite.
“The king of humans, it may be convenient, but did you accomplish anything by sticking by his side?”
“What… !”
The enraged wizard began to pour out words to the Dark Duke. He protested that by taking control of the human king, he was able to give a lot of power to the demon god, and part of it was able to be transferred to the grand duke.
But the Grand Duke had no intention of listening to his story any longer. He fell into thought again.
It was funny to be cornered and crouching among people who thought they were bugs.
No matter how much people believed in the divine goddess, they were all the same in front of power. Even knights who prioritized military power were the same when it came to money.
Rather than accepting power and death itself as honor or destiny like the demons, they are beings who consider death as a tool of trade and make death a miserable death.
His own young emperor was similar.
However, at some point, he stopped being a fool, turned the death into something meaningful, and stopped the war.
‘It’s like that guy who suddenly comes to his senses at some point.’
The Archduke suddenly remembered someone’s face.
It was a face similar to Roan.
No, to be exact, Roan resembles his face.
He was a former emperor.
The guy who always smiled thoughtlessly had a stiff, frozen expression on his face for the first time at the coronation.
‘It feels like I’m doing something ridiculous.’
Humans do farming. Because I live in fertile land.
Demons hunt. Because I live in a barren land and, above all, I am strong.
In that case, the demons should just rule over the humans who farm and take their harvest.
The Grand Duke could not understand the late emperor’s stubbornness until the end.
The land was given from the beginning.
The attempt to change it was reckless and sad.
A tiger cannot survive by eating only grass.
In the end, his son, the Iron-Blooded Emperor, discovered a way to change the land…
Indeed, the demons accept humans and their culture, and his throne is replaced. Which one is faster?
Will the next emperor agree with his opinion?
Maybe a massacre will occur.
[So, we have to fix that. You are the only one who can do that.]
At the sound of the voice, the Archduke clenched his fists without realizing it.
That is correct.
At first it was a bit quiet, but
The more I listened, the more clearly the advice in my heart reminded me of what kind of being I was.
The weak former emperor,
And on behalf of the current emperor, who inherited his erratic side, we must put the demons’ lives back on track.
And remind them of their place as humans.
It was also a promise.
One of the few faces that comes to mind clearly even in memories of the past that have become blurry recently.
When the faded voice revived in his dream, the Archduke felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
[Please take revenge. Honey.]
The last time the Archduke saw his wife, her face was a mess from childbirth. However, the wife he saw in his dream was different from him, fresh and beautiful. Just like the day he first met her.
Holding her hand, the Archduke swore again and again. Revenge against humans. The glory of the demons. I will do whatever you want.
Therefore, the Grand Duke never dreamed that this could be a trick of ‘greed’.
In reality, his common sense had long since collapsed to the point where he couldn’t think it was absurd that his wife, who had tried to stop the Grand Duke several times, would become so bitter that she would ask for revenge directly decades later.
Perhaps the Grand Duke might not have been able to reject it even if he knew it was false.
It was enough for him to be able to clearly hear the voice he had forgotten for a long time.
Originally, what her wife asked for was his one remaining daughter.
However, it was painful for the Grand Duke to see Erenier. So he consciously forgot her.
Erenier is already the Emperor’s servant.
Even if the emperor dies, or even if she herself dies, she is respected and can exist as the late empress.
The Archduke, who felt great love and hatred for his daughter because she resembled her mother so much, thought that he had done his duty to Erenier.
“Where on earth did I leave the necklace I handed over last time…?” .”
“Shut up.”
At the simple but powerful words of the Grand Duke, Schlaner fell silent as if it were a lie.
Rather than saying it was voluntary, it would be more correct to say that the body naturally responded to the energy of power spread by the Archduke.
“… Something is strange.”
The Archduke slowly got up from his chair.
However, because his clothes were all black, the Grand Duke seemed to be immersed in the darkness, with only his whitish face floating around.
“What…”
“It became noisy.”
At that moment, an urgent bell sound was heard that seemed to shake the night air.
Although the sound was small, the speed at which it was struck was not the leisurely sound of a huge bell that only rings on holidays.
Alerts to intruders or urgent accidents. It is literally a warning bell.
Shula opened her eyes wide.
No knights were placed near the wizard’s workshop. This was because the Southern Dark Lord joined and intentionally bit a human. It was also because the Southern Dark Lord’s military power was so strong that it could not be compared to even the dozens of knights.
But for now, that fact has become unsettling. The Grand Duke, reading the wizard’s anxiety, snorted lightly.
“It must be difficult to stay here. Get ready to move.”
“Who on earth attacked the royal palace by force…?” . Are you saying that those Life Cult bastards destroyed all the Goddess Cults?”
Schlaner couldn’t understand. Neither he nor the Grand Duke could imagine that the demon emperor had invaded the palace with over a hundred knights, so we cannot blame him for not being able to understand.
It was just a quick pick-me-up.
“Nothing like that is important. It’s just time to move.”
As long as the Grand Duke was there, it was difficult to move freely in the palace. Since the war was in vain, Schlaner had already been thinking about moving his workshop.
Since Roan had been diligently destroying relics right after his return, there were only a few relics left. After finding the few traces, Schlaner planned to move to another place.
Find a place where he can offer an offering to the demon god he wants to receive power from.
The old man’s wrinkled hands were hurriedly organizing his belongings and books and putting them into the bag he had prepared.
Rumbling —!
The vibration shaking the ground shook the wizard’s entire workshop. With a loud crash, a shelf collapsed, spilling out bottles containing medicinal herbs, and the bookshelf where the wizard was pulling out books, everything except the book he was holding in his hand fell to the floor.
The puzzled wizard thought even in his frozen state. An enormous explosion of magical power. Has the wizard arrived?
But the thoughts in his head continued as follows. This is ridiculous. No one can use magic within this dragon’s magic field unless they are authorized to do so. The person who is permitted to do this is himself, some magic swordsmen of the knights, and those who protect the magic stone…
“Damn.”
Schlaner’s hand began to become much more urgent.
**
“For a moment.”
A dozen demons coming down the stairs all stopped at his words.
Running alongside the succubus knight who was leading the way in front of Roan was a beastman with a similar appearance to a wolf. He was alert and listened.
His pupils narrowed as he looked around with bright yellow eyes.
What you hear from afar is the sound of weapons clashing. Scream. The smell of blood.
But what lies beyond that door is the smell of fear. Even in this space, which only smells like humans, there is an unusually strong smell of sweat. Although it is little by little, I can hear the sound.
The sound of the body moving in nervousness, the sound of the body shaking. Even though the sound of metal fittings is very small, it can be heard. Is it the kitchen? Otherwise, the well-trained knights could be holding their breath in their armor.
“I sense a number of humans beyond that door. There is also a metallic sound. “It is not clear whether it is a weapon.”
The werewolf said politely.
To be cautious, the party includes beast demons who are strong at detection. Roan, the emperor, can understand the power of humans within the ‘detection’ range, but sharing information is a different matter.
This quiet underground space was where the magicians of Grünent and Roan guessed that the Magic Stone of Bültz was located.
And usually.
This space was simply a work space where the palace maids and servants came and went.
The commotion upstairs and the sound of the alarm could already be heard downstairs. Some people must have run away, while others were holding their breath and hiding, so the basement was absolutely quiet.
“First of all, there was no particularly severe resistance up to this point.”
At Roan’s words, the wolf beast knight glanced at the emperor’s sword. The pure white sword body was clean as if it had never been through any battle.
In fact, his emperor cut people down several times, but the blade was so well forged that even drops of blood slipped off.
“If there is a magic stone down here, how is it so quiet?”
The knights who heard the emperor muttering to themselves once again looked around with their respective abilities, but they could not sense any signs beyond what the wolf beastman had said.
It is said that in the past, only the king knew the exact location of the dragon’s magic stone. However, as always happens in human affairs, the information that was passed down following the coronation ceremony was cut off.
Currently, only the king knows where the dragon’s magic stone is presumed to be. Only the king knew the size and location of the guardian force, and only the king knew how to register magic that could be used in the magic field.
However, even that king had never seen the dragon’s magic stone in person.
Therefore, Grünent made an inference based on the drawings of her palace, all the stories she knew about the palace, and the latest palace news from Schik Viena.
Of course, knowledge about the magic of Count Bertelia, Eurtelia, and Erenier was also mixed in.
That’s how they concluded.
Probably the place where Bültz’s magic stone is located
It would be beyond this central kitchen.
“You can’t just walk on the path that was laid out for you.”
If his wife and women have found their way up to this point, it is up to him to move forward and pioneer a new path.
As it has been so far.
“Eggplant.”
Roan’s feet smashed down the kitchen door at a speed that was contradictory to his calm voice.
The tree broke into pieces and bounced, and a suppressed scream burst out from within.
