I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake. Chapter 69

I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.

Chapter 69

After that, Barre and Agatha shared various information.

The mermaids were planning to occupy their homeland, the ‘Coral Archipelago‘ soon.

In exchange for rescuing demons and providing them shelter, they agreed to help with occupying the ‘Coral Archipelago’ later.

Barre told Agatha what she wanted to know most, the routes taken by the captured demons.

Agatha created a gray continental map in the air.

“So you’re saying all the ships carrying treasures and comrades will depart from Luxhope here and enter through the lower Eileen River?”

“Right. That’s the only route available now.”

“Couldn’t they move by land?”

“The railway project crossing the south and north is almost completely blocked now.”

“Can’t they use carriages?”

“While that might work for treasures, transporting live demons by carriage is too risky. The Empire currently has bandits everywhere, and it would be troublesome if the demons were to escape during transport.”

“Then they must have an even bigger headache now. Taking ships means dealing with us, taking carriages means dealing with bandits.”

“Exactly.”

Barre decided to ask a question he’d been holding back.

“But there’s one thing I’m curious about. Why attack the ships in the middle of the Eileen River instead of at sea? Was that really necessary?”

Agatha zoomed in to show just the Eileen River region.

“This is a secret only the mermaids knew, but there’s actually an underground passage beneath the Eileen River.”

“Underground passage?”

“Strictly speaking, it’s an underwater passage that humans and we can’t cross. Following it leads to the area near where we attacked.”

An underground waterway in the eastern continent?

This was the first time he’d heard of it.

“The waterway is quite complex, connecting to the Eileen River basin and also to strange swamps, springs, and lakes in the south.”

“This doesn’t seem like a natural waterway at all.”

“Right. The mermaids say it’s from the ancient kingdom era?”

“Ancient kingdom?”

“From the time of dragons. Though it’s been almost 300 years and traces are hard to find, they say you can discover the ancient kingdom’s capital while traveling through the underground waterways.”

An ancient kingdom underground.

Barre knew of one such place.

But that was located in the southwestern part of the continent, far from the east here, so it was unlikely to be the same kingdom.

Still, it’s surprising that there were ancient kingdom ruins underground in the east too.

This is interesting.

This wasn’t even mentioned in the game.

“Even considering that, wouldn’t it have been better to attack at sea? There were coastal batteries there, so it must have been dangerous?”

“We didn’t know about those. Plus, we wanted to mess with the beastkin, orcs, and humans all at once.”

“Mess with them?”

“Shortly after peace negotiations, we appear in the middle of human territory and launch a surprise attack, imagine how troubled they’d be. Right?”

Now he understood why the succubi and vampires made Agatha queen instead of her sister with a normal tail.

She had both military and political insight.

This is the kind of person who should be queen.

“Then you’re not happy about the ceasefire?”

Agatha thought for a moment before speaking.

“To be honest, I’m not completely against it. Not shedding blood is good.”

Agatha’s eyebrows sharpened.

“But in exchange, the humans demanded succubi, vampires, and doppelgangers. So they agreed to capture all the beastkin and orcs and hand them over to humans. That’s what makes me angry.”

“What the hell?”

When did that happen?

Do they want their heads bashed in?

“So wouldn’t that make you angry? Wouldn’t it?”

“It would.”

“Right. Right. That’s why we wanted to mess with them somehow, and we decided to make our first surprise attack there.”

Okay, the motivation is clear now.

But there’s a problem.

This means the Dior Kingdom had nothing to do with this attack.

This means they’ll need to either blow up a small grievance or write a scenario…

Doesn’t seem easy.

“Then are you planning to attack at sea next time?”

“That’s the plan, but…”

Agatha sighed.

“There’s one worry.”

“What is it?”

“Remember I said vampires and succubi were taken when the ship first docked at the continent? I want to rescue them but can’t figure out how.”

“You don’t know exactly where they were taken?”

“No. Looking for them is too risky, but thinking about the suffering our comrades must be going through just makes me sigh…”

“Sounds like you’re asking for my help?”

Agatha made an awkward expression.

“Could you help? You’re a sheriff or something, right? Couldn’t you help with that?”

“I am a sheriff, but they really hate me where your comrades were taken.”

“Why? Don’t humans like each other?”

“Do you like beastkin and orcs right now?”

“Ah, that kind of feeling? Then there’s nothing we can do…”

Barre thought for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll help you out.”

“Really? Won’t it be hard?”

“It will be. And difficult too. But the reward should be equally big, right?”

“…I don’t have much I can give.”

“Why not? If we raid the passing ships, we can get good treasures. Like jewels or gold.”

“Ah! Would that work? I thought you only accepted magic potions.”

“That would be best if there are any. I’ll try to save my comrades somehow. Then you just need to take them.”

“Then shall we share detailed plans in the shared dream world once we gather enough information?”

“Let’s do that for now. Oh, by the way, I’m curious, does this glow on the forehead while sleeping?”

“Because of that magic circle? Don’t worry about that. As long as there’s no mage nearby, they’ll never notice.”

Okay, noted that too.

Agatha stood up and extended her hand to Barre.

“Thank you. For helping.”

“It’s not such a bad deal for me either.”

Barre took Agatha’s hand.

Come to think of it, conducting operations together with other demon folk.

Wasn’t this something that never happened even during the war?

Since Barre only passed along information unilaterally, never participating in operations.

Being able to fight alongside demon folk only after leaving the battlefield… It feels quite strange.

“By the way, did you know your way of speaking has changed?”

“What do you mean?”

“When I met you as Barre, you were really scary, you know? Should I say you had an edge to you? But now, though you’re still in Barre’s form, you seem to have softened a bit.”

“…Well, it’s been over half a year since I left the battlefield. No need to be on guard like a hedgehog anymore.”

“Then this must be your true self?”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s nothing really. Just that your current self looks much better. Should I say more relaxed and gentle?”

More relaxed and gentle…

It’s not entirely wrong.

Humans are creatures whose personalities can change drastically depending on their environment.

Of course, I can’t be this relaxed in the Kingdom of Dior.

Barre tightened his waist and spread his shoulders, drawing tension tight.

That’s when Agatha approached.

“You won’t sleep well if you’re that tense.”

“What are you trying to do?”

“I’m going to do what my mother often did when I couldn’t sleep.”

“You’re not going to do anything weird, are you?”

“How about trusting me a little?”

Agatha gently placed her hand on Barre’s eyelids.

No warm body temperature or fragrance emanates from her.

“Barre. You’re my benefactor who saved my life. And also my comrade. So I wish you wouldn’t be so guarded against me.”

That’s true, but it’s not easy.

Sometimes in nightmares, I still see the men who turned their guns on Barre after being enchanted by succubi.

“So I hope sweet dreams will be painted on your eyelids tonight.”

Barre felt like they were gradually drifting away.

“Then have good dreams.”

That day, just as Agatha said, Barre fell into a very sweet dream.

So sweet he never wanted to wake up.

***

Caesar went to find Gloria as soon as he woke up.

“We’re going to the Kingdom of Dior tomorrow. Pack light.”

“What? No! They might pull out all of Lord Caesar’s fingers there!”

“That’s why we need to go secretly.”

“Why do you want to go?”

Caesar waved the emperor’s decree.

“It’s the Emperor’s orders. He commanded an investigation into this recent demon folk raid incident.”

“What?! Is that really the Emperor’s personal letter?”

“You think the Emperor wrote it himself? Obviously someone wrote it on his behalf. But it’s definitely the Emperor’s orders.”

“But is it okay for me to take on such an important mission? I’m not even a knight yet.”

“Then do you want to wait?”

Gloria’s expression became complicated at Caesar’s words.

“…Thank you.”

“Is that your answer?”

“No! We should go! I’ll get ready right away!”

“Good. It’ll probably be a long journey, but don’t pack too heavy. We’ll procure most things locally. And we’re going to look at your weapons and basic armor in the afternoon, so be at the main gate by 1 PM.”

“Yes sir!”

Gloria ran off to her home.

Caesar always keeps his word.

He decided to look after Gloria who will be left alone from now on, so he will.

Though they might both get hurt because of it, isn’t that what their promised caring relationship is about?

Once they’ve accepted it, let’s endure things like getting hurt together.

***

Caesar took Gloria to Sapientia.

The carriage stopped at the Gale Magic Tower.

If asked about the biggest difference between Gale Magic Tower and Valentine Magic Tower, it would be the ‘marketplace’ gathered below the tower.

You might ask why a magic tower has a marketplace, but it really does.

The Gale Magic Tower didn’t initially plan to create a marketplace, it became a tradition naturally as ‘developers’ sponsored by the tower gathered one by one below to showcase their products and ideas.

Though it might seem noisy, when they find useful items among the ideas being sold, the Gale Magic Tower immediately buys the patent rights, manufactures the products, and sells them.

Since it’s not a bad relationship from the tower’s perspective, they even hold small festivals to support the developers and help nurture the marketplace.

Caesar put on a mask and fedora while speaking.

“Since wearing heavy full plate armor is still difficult, let’s stick with light armor.”

“Yes.”

The reason Caesar stopped by Gale Magic Tower was to fit Gloria for armor at this ‘marketplace’.

While the Dre Order does have light armor, he thought it best to avoid them when possible, now knowing they harbor ulterior motives.

But buying artifact-type armor from Gale Magic Tower would be too expensive even for Caesar to consider.

Moreover, since it wouldn’t suit Gloria’s level anyway, they decided to buy something appropriate for her as a temporary measure.

‘While we’re at it, let’s look for that developer I know.’

Though he wasn’t sure if that ‘developer’ he knew would still be here since the future had changed so much, finding them would be huge.

They’d be like a walking ‘golden goblin’ who would definitely bring in ridiculous amounts of money if just sponsored and given a workshop.

Caesar opened the carriage door.

True to being a marketplace, the sound of hawkers assaulted their ears.

“Come one, come all! A product that lets you wash your hair and brush your teeth at once! Look at this! Just press this button and… AAAAHHH!”

When he pressed the button, the strange machine went wild, pulling out all the man’s hair and harvesting his teeth.

Looking to the side, another developer was holding a strange doll.

“Here! This is a doll that lets you feel a woman’s body temperature! When you press this button like this… HOT HOT HOT!”

The doll turned bright red and scorched the man’s skin.

Gloria burst out laughing at the sight.

“There really are a lot of bizarre things here.”

“But it’s fun to watch, isn’t it?”

It was entertaining just to watch the developers enthusiastically demonstrating their products, literally shedding blood.

This era completely lacked social welfare systems like industrial accident insurance, so both buyers and sellers tended to accept a slight degree of risk.

In other words, it was an era of romance.

“But can we buy armor here?”

“They sell crazy things like this, but surprisingly normal things too.”

Of course, being a city of magicians, there were few developers making things knights would use.

Still, if Caesar could find that ‘developer’ he was looking for, they might be able to fit Gloria’s armor more easily than expected.

Caesar and Gloria walked around the marketplace checking the inventions.

Most items seemed useless, but they were definitely entertaining to look at.

There were some people selling protective gear like armor, but most were suited for factories or industrial sites rather than for knights.

“There really aren’t any people selling armor, are there?”

“That’s right.”

Maybe it’s harder to find because the future has changed too much.

Or maybe it’s harder to find because this is reality, not a game.

“Let’s look around some more.”

How long had they been walking?

That’s when a familiar old man caught Caesar’s eye.

“Come!, cough cough… Come!. Take a look! What is this?! This is what’s called a chainsaw sword!”

Vrrrrrrr!

The chainsaw attached to the sword spun with an eerie sound.

It looked like you’d be sent straight to jail without questions if you walked around at night with that bizarre sword.

But Caesar checked how this so called chainsaw sword operated.

The pommel part was uniquely round and thick, emitting a blue light.

It was luminescence from magic combustion.

As far as Caesar knew, there was only one person who sold knight equipment using such magic combustion reactions.

Caesar stopped walking.

“Cough cough Beware of imitations! Without the ‘Theon’ T-mark certification, they’re all fake!”

Bingo!

Found him.

That old man who looked like he should be collapsed in bed somewhere.

That old man was Theon, the genius inventor who would later create mechanized weapons for slaughtering demons.

TL NOTE:

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