I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake. Chapter 39

I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.

Chapter 39

Looking around the village entrance, other knights were also visible.

The knights were gathered in small groups, all of them glancing at the knights getting off the carriages.

It was clear they were forming teams to hunt demons.

A group of knights approached Caesar.

“Are you Sir Caesar? If you don’t mind, would you like to join us? We have just one spot open.”

“We heard you’ve hunted demons before. We also have some experience hunting demons. If you join us, we can safely hunt down the demons together.”

As expected, being popular is tiring.

It would be safer to hunt demons with these guys.

The aggro would be spread among the others.

Of course, that would slow things down and, crucially, reduce the bounty.

“It’s alright. I’ll move alone.”

“That’s too dangerous. They’re all likely to be two-horned demons.”

Ah. I don’t have time for this argument.

I need to make money quickly!

Have you guys ever received a 17 million del promissory note?!

Have you?!

“Instead of wasting time like this, it’d be better to catch the demons quickly. I’ll be going now.”

Caesar brushed off their fervent courtship and ran towards Sanctus Lumen.

Then he held up the blue flame emblem hanging around his neck.

Ziiing.

The blue flame emblem wasn’t just a simple identification tag, but had the ability to detect the unique magic waves emitted by demons.

It works on the principle that the vibration gets stronger as the demon gets closer and weaker as it gets farther away.

Caesar ran, pushing the ground as he went in the direction where the vibration grew stronger.

How long did he run?

The sound of fighting carried on the wind from somewhere.

Caesar accurately pinpointed the direction the wind was coming from and changed course.

“Aaaaargh!”

Along with the sound of clashing steel, screams pierced his ears.

Soon, the strong smell of blood hit him, and through the dense trees, he could see knights fighting with a demon.

“Kuh!”

A demon with both hands fused into the shape of a giant greatsword smashed a knight’s shield, sending the knight flying.

“Wh-why are you trying to kill me! I’m human! I am human…!”

The demon killed the charging knights while shedding purple tears.

It was clearly a two-horned demon that hadn’t been one for long.

Two-horned demons tend to regain most of their memories as they regain their sanity, so they often can’t accept that they’re demons.

In such cases, it usually goes one of two ways.

One is that they commit suicide, and the other is that they accept their new form and live on as demons.

“I-I was destined to become a holy knight. A holy knight who would eradicate the demons that killed my father from this world…! And you’re saying I’m a demon?! I can’t accept thiiiiis!”

Purple flames erupted from the demon’s body, engulfing the knights.

“Aaaaargh!”

Most of the knights lost consciousness, caught in the explosion.

Caesar drew ‘Thunder’ from the axe sheath at his waist.

“Uriaaaaa!”

As Berserk activated, Caesar’s heart pounded heavily, his temperature rose rapidly, and his muscles pumped up.

The demon looked at Caesar upon hearing his battle cry.

Caesar passed through the trees like a gust of wind and brought his axe down on the creature.

Kwaaaang!

Was it because it was a two-horned demon?

The creature blocked Caesar’s axe with surprising reflexes and strength.

But the sharp wind wrapped around Thunder burst forth, shredding the creature’s body.

“Gaaaaaah!”

It sliced through the creature’s eyes, ears, and limb muscles, and the current enveloping Thunder flowed through the blade, mercilessly tearing open the wounds.

Bzzzzzzt!

The creature finally couldn’t withstand it and fell to its knees.

“Ce-Caesar…!”

The creature seemed to recognize Caesar and trembled.

An acquaintance?

But it was hard to recognize due to the face that had been badly distorted by demonization.

Caesar swung his axe horizontally.

If the creature had tried to dodge, it could have easily avoided or blocked it.

However, the creature just looked up at Caesar with a blank expression, with no intention of reacting to Caesar’s attack.

“Ah… I was the same as you…”

Slash!

Caesar cut off the creature’s head.

The current in Thunder seared the cross-section of the creature, filling the air with a burnt smell.

Fearing it might regenerate like Gilbert, Caesar split the head vertically again.

The knights sprawled around couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed.

A two-horned demon that couldn’t be killed even when five of them attacked at once had been slaughtered single-handedly.

“Si-Sir Caesar, that was amazing.”

“…”

Although Caesar had killed the demon, he didn’t feel particularly good about it.

While their outer appearance is truly demonic, their inner selves are hardly different from living humans.

But he couldn’t let them live either.

Demons’ emotions are too unstable, and they end up destroying all living beings around them when they get even slightly stressed.

Having seen countless scenes of demons indiscriminately slaughtering humans and demon-kin alike on the battlefield, he knew all too well that they had to be killed.

But as a human, it’s impossible not to feel uneasy about it.

In such times, there’s a way.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

With the laughter, the uneasy feeling evaporated, leaving only the thrill of victory.

You can keep your conscience by sympathizing, but you can’t keep your life.

That was the bloody lesson the battlefield had taught Caesar over the past three years.

And Caesar, who had survived that hell, inevitably had to become an unscrupulous villain.

Caesar brought his axe down.

Thud Thud.

The demon’s two horns were separated from its head, and Caesar picked them up and put them in his pouch.

“Where’s the next demon?!!! Hahahahahahaha!”

Caesar left behind the sound of laughter and disappeared like the wind.

***

Bradley ran northeast, leaving Sanctus Lumen behind.

When Bradley came to his senses, he was forcibly fitting a holy knight’s armor to his body after stripping it off.

As he was about to lose his mind from the shock of killing a holy knight, numerous holy knights charged at Bradley.

Bradley had to struggle to survive, and unintentionally killed another holy knight before fleeing.

‘This can’t be happening. This can’t be…’

To think that I’ve become a demon.

Why?

As that question crossed his mind, Bradley naturally recalled the ‘medicine peddler’ who had treated his jaw.

‘There must have been something wrong with the medicine that bastard gave me.’

How else could Bradley have become a demon?

Bradley has the blood of the Herson viscount flowing through him.

They’ve produced 305 holy knights and 802 knights over the past 100 years.

For a member of such a prestigious knightly family to become a demon.

This was impossible.

Arriving at the Dre River basin on the outskirts of Sanctus Lumen, Bradley shouted at the top of his lungs.

“You damn medicine peddler bastard! Where are you!”

As the sharp blade attached to Bradley’s right hand whipped around, the thin trees and grass around him were cut down.

“Where the hell are you!”

Just then, a man walked out, pushing through the bushes.

A man with his entire face wrapped in white bandages, emanating a strange medicinal smell.

It was the medicine peddler.

“What the hell did you do to me? My hand…! Why has my hand become like this!”

“You’ve been chosen.”

“…What?”

“Congratulations on becoming part of the new humanity, Bradley.”

The medicine peddler unwrapped the bandages on his head.

His face, which had been hidden by the bandages, was revealed.

Four small horns were attached to his head, his skin was rough like an old tree, and his eyes glowed purple.

Bradley unconsciously stepped backward.

“Ah, a demon.”

“Demon? That’s offensive.”

Bradley’s body stiffened at the strange pressure emanating from the man’s body.

He could barely breathe, and it felt like his heart was being squeezed.

“But I’ll let it slide.”

As that bizarre pressure suddenly released, Bradley fell to his knees.

“Huff… Huff…”

“How could I punish the mistake of a newborn who knows nothing yet? Instead, I’d like you to call me by my name from now on.”

“Wh-what’s your name?”

“I am Viscount Andromalius. A name bestowed upon me by the King of Niflheim himself.”

Andromalius stretched out his hand.

Black tentacles extended from Andromalius’s hand and bound Bradley’s body.

Bradley hurriedly tried to cut them with his blade, but it didn’t even leave a scratch.

“I’d like to praise your beautiful evolution, but since we’re short on time, I’ll make you a proposal.”

“…What? A proposal?”

“Would you consider becoming my subordinate? If so, I’ll help you gain even greater power.”

“What are you talking about! Turn me back to normal right now!”

“That’s neither possible nor is there any reason to do so. Unlike your friend, you don’t seem to be very fond of your new form.”

At that moment, other demons walked out from behind Andromalius.

They were demons with two horns each on their heads, and among them was Bradley’s friend.

“Peter! You bastard! How could you do this to me!”

“Bradley. You should accept it too. This is where we belong in the end.”

“You fucking bastard! I’m different from you! You were always a fucking idiot who couldn’t even awaken your aura, but I was different! Why! Why did you make me like this!”

Andromalius shrugged and said,

“You’re being annoyingly chatty. If you have no intention of becoming my subordinate, then I have no choice.”

Andromalius’s tentacles dug into Bradley’s mouth.

“Mmmmph!”

“Buy us some time while we escape.”

An unpleasant liquid continuously poured down Bradley’s throat.

***

A scream carried on the wind reached his ears.

Caesar moved swiftly in the direction of the scream, and saw a demon grabbing a knight’s neck, about to pierce his heart.

Should he charge in?

No, that would be too late.

Caesar threw Left Fang instead of Thunder.

The axe flew quietly like an owl but swiftly like a hawk.

It was the 5th form of the Path of the Wind, Gentle Breeze.

“Aaaaargh!”

The axe ultimately lodged itself precisely in the unsuspecting demon’s right forearm.

A piercing scream cut across the forest.

In that moment, Caesar appeared with a fierce gust of wind, and Thunder struck upwards from below.

Along with a sharp wind, the demon’s body was vertically bisected in one go.

Bzzzzzzt.

Following that, a powerful current flowed through the demon’s cross-section, perfectly roasting its body.

Even if this creature had ultra-regenerative abilities, it would be impossible to regenerate from this state.

“The performance is definitely good.”

No, that’s not right.

17 million del is equivalent to 85 Harrisons.

If it didn’t perform this well after pouring in money that could work a Harrison like a dog for 85 years into a single axe, it would be right to smash Pesson’s head instead of a demon’s.

Caesar cut off the horns attached to the bisected creature’s head and put them in his pouch.

The knight whose life Caesar had saved kept bowing his head.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Sir Caesar.”

“You know my name?”

“Huh? Ah, that… I saw it in the newspaper.”

Ha! This popularity of mine.

I wonder if I’m not becoming more famous than Barre at this rate.

“I see. You seem to be injured, so you should retreat now.”

“Yes! Thank you.”

The knight retreated from the battlefield, supporting his comrades.

Meanwhile, Caesar took out the blue flame emblem.

No matter which direction he pointed it, it no longer vibrated.

‘Have I already caught them all?’

The total number of two-horned demons Caesar had killed so far was four.

Who are they trying to fool with this?

‘This is more troublesome to find than to kill…’

Just then, something strange caught Caesar’s eye.

A syringe was sticking out of the pocket of the demon Caesar had killed.

“…This is.”

It looked similar to the Night Maker syringe that Gilbert had used.

Caesar used psychometry.

Then, a man wrapped in white bandages appeared before Caesar’s eyes.

-Can I really become a knight if I use this?

-If you don’t like it, I won’t sell it. There are already plenty of people who want to buy it.

-Ah, no! I’ll buy it! H-how much is it?

Caesar sighed as he looked back and forth between the syringe and the dead demon.

“This is what happens when you try to buy talent with money.”

People have a predetermined capacity, yet this fellow became a demon out of greed.

It’s sad, but there’s nothing more foolish than this.

‘But that bandaged man looks familiar somehow.’

If he looks familiar, it’s 100% someone I’ve seen in the game.

But since it doesn’t come to mind immediately, it seems he’s not someone who greatly influences the game’s story like Viscount Duken.

‘Should I go to that river for now?’

The location of the river where this fellow bought the Night Maker was the Dre River basin, located northeast of Sanctus Lumen.

It seemed not a bad idea to go there and check for various pieces of evidence that would surely remain.

‘And there should be many demons there too.’

Those who became demons after using the quack medicine peddler’s medicine would gather like ants to complain.

‘Let’s go.’

Caesar moved his feet.

***

Yusuf, the vice-commander of the 17th Holy Knight Division of the Dre Order, led the holy knights towards the Dre River.

“Search thoroughly!”

“Yes!”

Yusuf glared at the swamp with sharp eyes.

The root cause of this incident lay in the Night Maker.

However, many aspiring knights knew that taking the Night Maker would turn them into demons.

-I, I didn’t buy the Night Maker! I bought a mana circuit stimulant!

-M-me too! Look at this. The color is different, and the smell is different too! They said it was definitely harmless to the body, so I bought it…

As the notoriety of the Night Maker grew and sales declined, the medicine peddlers simply changed the name and color before selling it to aspiring knights.

The number of aspiring knights who fell victim to this exceeded 100.

‘To think they would commit such an evil act near the sacred Sanctus Lumen.’

It hadn’t been long since they got information that the medicine peddler was here, so he shouldn’t have escaped yet.

Surely, evidence related to him must be hidden somewhere here.

Just then, something strange caught Yusuf’s eye.

“Huh?”

Could it be an alligator approaching?

Far away, a huge object was rapidly approaching the shore from the middle of the river.

But the other holy knights hadn’t noticed it.

“Evade! Get out of the water right now!”

“…Pardon?”

Yusuf’s warning came too late.

A thin, long strange creature that suddenly sprang out of the water roughly dragged in one of the holy knights.

“Aaaaargh!”

The creature’s long, large fingers intertwined like a net, snatching the holy knight in an instant before dragging him under the water.

It happened so suddenly that the holy knight couldn’t even put up a proper resistance.

Following that, red blood and bubbles gurgled up from the water’s edge.

In his 20 years of living in Sanctus Lumen, Yusuf had never seen such a strange creature.

And if Yusuf hadn’t seen wrong, this was undoubtedly a three-horned demon with three horns on its head.

TL NOTE:

Schedule: Every {Wed-Sat}

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