Not a Prince, but a Hero
"…Uh."
Logar's mouth hung open and refused to close.
"You're… letting me go…?"
"I never said that."
"Y-you clearly said you would show mercy…"
"I meant I'd let you live."
And right now, you are alive.
"..."
Not a single word was wrong.
Logar's complexion turned ghostly pale.
"Ah…"
His short knees sank into the snow. Hot tears dripped onto the cold ground.
The Demon King had known all along.
That Logar had planned to pretend to be a spy just long enough to escape.
"You're crying? Are you that happy?"
"…Yes. Of course."
"Get up. We still have far to go."
"…Yes."
It was cold. Bitterly cold. The chill pierced straight through Logar's thickest dwarven fur coat.
So this is Ergest, he thought automatically.
"Um… where exactly are we going?"
"The summit, obviously."
"You mean… the tower is at the summit?"
He may be a Hero, but Logar had lived a secluded life lately while crafting the princess's weapon.
So he didn't know a new Demon King had descended.
Nor that this Demon King had abducted Hilderan's crown princess.
But at the very least, he knew this much: a Demon King's tower was usually built somewhere reasonably dangerous—still reachable by human feet.
But the peak of Mount Ergest?
It was strange, but Logar wasn't brave enough to question it aloud.
They climbed for a long while. Logar's short legs slowed them down, but fortunately years of blacksmithing had given him endurance.
"M-monsters are avoiding us on their own."
"Of course. I am the Demon King. You think mere monsters would dare block my path?"
"S-so the entire mountain is yours…?"
Berze didn't answer. But silence could be as good as confirmation.
Seriously…?
A chill of foreboding ran through Logar's mind.
After a long climb, they reached the summit. The tower was hidden inside a basin, hard to find at a glance.
"Remember this. This is where you'll be working for me."
"Th-the tower? But how…?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
The tower doors opened.
Logar squeezed his eyes shut.
Even if the first floor was said to house relatively weak fiends, they were still fiends. Since becoming a Hero—no, in his entire life—Logar had never actually seen a living monster. He was terrified.
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, well…"
The Demon King's scolding made him open his eyes. He found himself staring at an empty chamber.
"Uh… is it supposed to be like this?"
"For now. I'll be filling it gradually."
"Ah, I see. So it's because you're a new Demon King. Makes sense."
Logar accepted this explanation. At the very least, he was relieved there were no monsters to look at.
"Follow me."
They climbed to the 2nd, 3rd floors. All of them were empty, no different from the 1st. But when they reached the 4th floor, he was startled in a different way.
Because the scene before him was too far removed from anything resembling a Demon King's tower.
"Spirits…?"
Spirits playfully danced around despite the tower being an area sparse with mana.
"Ah—you're here!"
A human suddenly appeared among them, startling Logar even more. Nothing about this looked like it belonged in a Demon King's tower.
"This is…?"
"Who?"
"This is the princess of Hilderan. And this is the dwarf who'll be living with you from now on. A Hero."
"…Princess?"
"…Hero?"
"You two will be sharing the 4th floor. Since you'll be seeing each other for a long time, at least exchange greetings."
The Demon King ascended to the 5th floor.
Left alone, the princess and the Hero stared at each other in heavy silence.
"You're… not here to rescue me, are you?"
"…For now, no."
"Were you kidnapped?"
"..."
"You're not… a prince, right?"
"..."
"…You are a Hero, right?"
"…For now, yes."
Logar lowered his head.
He'd never had pride as a Hero, but somehow this was unbearably embarrassing.
"Y-you want me to remodel the first floor?"
Just as Logar's discomfort from sharing space with the princess had reached the point of suffocation, the Demon King summoned him.
The first command given was difficult to comprehend.
"You said you'd use your skill for me, did you not? Was that a lie?"
"N-no, of course not."
"Then I'm giving you a chance. The honor of using your lowly craftsmanship for me."
"So… I can change the first floor however I want…?"
"Don't make me repeat myself."
Ballistae and cannons… in the Demon King's tower?
Replacing monsters with ballistae and cannons—he couldn't imagine anything more absurd.
I thought I'd be forging weapons or armor…
The demon race also used weapons and armor. Naturally, when he was brought here, he assumed that was his purpose.
But filling the first floor with dwarven traps?
"If you're going to say you can't bring yourself to kill other Heroes, say it now. I won't stop you."
"Really?"
"Of course."
Logar wasn't so dull that he failed to notice the killing intent hidden in those words.
"N-no! In fact… I'd love to do it!"
His own life was infinitely more important than some strangers who happened to be Heroes.
"Can you actually do it?"
"I am one of the top master craftsmen in the Dwarven Kingdom. If you'd like, I can show you dwarven craftsmanship beyond mere cannons or ballistae!"
"Good attitude. Need anything?"
"That depends on how extensively you want me to remodel the first floor."
"All of it. I'll give the entire floor to you—do whatever you want."
"The entire first floor… Then may I draft some blueprints first?"
"You have two days."
"Y-yes, sir!"
"Oh, and."
The Demon King leaned in. Logar collapsed under the sudden closeness of those pitch-black eyes.
A whisper slipped through the gap.
"If you want to scheme, go ahead. But the moment you forget this is the Demon King's tower… you'll experience a worst moment far beyond what you can imagine."
"Hic—"
The Demon King vanished.
Logar was left alone… and so were his wet pants.
"…sniff."
How miserable.
"I accepted the dwarf."
He hadn't fully accepted it, to be honest. But compared to the situation now, that had been a thousand times easier.
"But a Hero? Seriously?"
Heroes were enemies.
Guardians meant to repel invasion.
Obstacles that must be eliminated in order to conquer a dimension.
Even though the peculiar nature of Arein had led to recent cooperation between Demon Kings and humans, they were still, fundamentally, irreconcilable foes.
"No Demon King has ever brought a Hero into their tower!"
"Then I'll be the first."
"Why are you doing this?"
"I told you I was bringing a dwarf. Do I need to explain the plan again?"
"But he's a Hero."
"He's also a dwarf. And one of the top master craftsmen in his kingdom."
"No matter what, that's still—!"
"Then will you build it?"
"..."
Berze silenced Gordon's complaints with a sip of bitter tea.
"Just worry about how we're going to gather the materials the dwarf needs."
"…That's easy. You just have to run errands yourself."
Gordon snapped irritably.
"In detail."
"Buying the needed materials from various kingdoms will be the only way to avoid the worst-case scenario."
"And your 'worst case' is?"
"That they find out you purchased the materials—and that they discover what you're planning."
"Countermeasure?"
"If we split the flow among multiple kingdoms, no one will know it all traces back to you. Humans have logistical routes, but you'll use subspace—so tracking is impossible."
"Not bad. Then why that face?"
"What about my face?"
Problem? Many.
An incredibly annoying face—he wanted to crush it on the spot.
Before regression, he wasn't like this… What changed?
"There might be a problem soon."
"..."
The Demon King's fist made Gordon smile brightly—disgustingly so.
Berze tapped the table lightly.
It'll be a bit troublesome, but this is better.
A dwarven trap was only as good as its secrecy.
A completely unexpected moment.
A completely unexpected trap.
Even aside from that, the idea of humans discovering that he was doing anything and tracking him down was unpleasant.
"Fine, do that. Bring me a plan detailing which materials are best acquired from where."
"I don't even know what he needs."
"Is that supposed to be a question? Obviously, it means go ask that Hero brat."
"Ah."
"You don't want to work?"
"…No, sir."
"Then are you rebelling?"
"..."
"You graduated top of the training academy, yet you act like this. Ridiculous."
"…It's not that."
"Enough. I'll look into it myself once the blueprints are done, so focus on checking Iashins' condition."
"…Yes."
Berze disappeared. Gordon, left alone, punched the wall.
Gordon stomped into the adjutant's quarters, growling as he threw himself on the bed.
No matter how he thought about it, he was furious.
It was true that what happened earlier was his fault. He'd been so caught up in the fact that the dwarf was a Hero that he hadn't even grasped the simplest things.
But if he traced it back, the root cause was Berze.
"I endured it when he decided to build the tower on Mount Ergest."
"I endured it when he chose to hide the tower."
"I endured it when he let the princess roam the 4th floor instead of locking her up."
"I endured it when he used precious demonic magic points to buy money."
"I endured it when he used an elf for shady side schemes."
"I even tolerated him letting a dwarf fill the entire first floor."
He ignored every violation of demon norms and every un-demon-like act, simply because Berze was the Demon King—the lord he was sworn to serve.
But now he had kidnapped a Hero.
And now he intended to put that Hero in charge of guarding the entrance to the tower.
"Damn it."
This was not the ideal Demon King–adjutant relationship he had dreamed of.
This wasn't what he had spent ten years studying at the demon training academy for.
This wasn't why he'd graduated as valedictorian.
"I can't take this anymore…!"
Gordon let go of his clenched fist. A deep sigh escaped him.
Still, he had to endure it.
The relationship between Demon King and adjutant was vertical. And demons valued hierarchy more than any other race.
Disobedience meant death. That was only natural. Worse yet, within the Demon King's tower, the rules were even stricter than in the demon realm.
"Damn it, if only he weren't the Demon King!"
But Berze was the Demon King. And Gordon was the adjutant.
He took out a communication orb. As he infused it with demonic energy, it glowed faintly and connected.
『You're here again.』
『So the Demon King returned? Sooner than expected.』
"Are all Demon Kings like this?"
Gordon vented the frustration he had held back.
『There's anger in your voice.』
『I get it. They're our masters, sure, but Demon Kings can be infuriating.』
『I'd like to hear what happened.』
"He doesn't listen to a word I say. Everything he does is unilateral. If he's going to do everything himself, why even keep me as adjutant?"
『So you're like that too? Mine is the same. Sometimes he listens, but most of the time he does whatever he wants.』
『Can't relate. My Demon King listens to me just fine.』
『Aina, please shut up.』
『You shut up, Kokun. Have some dignity.』
The voices that had seemed sympathetic were already bickering among themselves.
"If he listened to anything, I wouldn't be this disillusioned."
『Top of the Demon King Academy, weren't you? Living up to the title, I see.』
『Now that you mention it, Gordon, weren't you also valedictorian of the demon training academy? First valedictorian to be assigned to Arein—must be rough.』
『Mine's the same. I don't know if I'm an adjutant or just a demon who nods on command.』
"That's what I'm saying! If he weren't the Demon King—!"
『Don't say that in front of him.』
『He looks like the type to behead you instantly.』
『You'd be Gor/Done. Might be fun to watch?』
"Stop saying horrifying things."
Arein had a communication network specifically for the adjutants who served Demon Kings.
And it was almost always used on days when someone had been pushed to their emotional limit by their superior.
Though adjutants' personal communications were kept secret, it wasn't unusual for the overly loyal ones to run straight to their superiors and report everything.
"I thought so."
Draxon snickered as he tore into raw meat.
"I've never seen a brat raise his chin that high in front of me. Even if he embarrassed himself at graduation for breaking tradition, he was still praised as a prodigy before that. Of course he's arrogant."
You didn't need to be valedictorian—every Demon King candidate had a stiff neck. That was the nature of demons, of Demon Kings.
"What do you think?"
"Are you asking about the Demon King? Or the adjutant?"
"The adjutant. There's always the chance he's lying."
"I don't think so."
The resentment heard through the orb had been genuine.
"So he brought no demons, summoned no monsters, and is apparently on bad terms with the one adjutant he has?"
Draxon smirked. Their first encounter had been so intense he assumed Berze had some hidden strength—but maybe it was all bluff.
*No… he must have something. *
"And that slave elf—what's he doing?"
Buying humans' money with demonic magic and then buying a slave with it—highly suspicious. Draxon remained vigilant.
Even though one underling had died after being discovered, the matter wasn't over.
"He's traveling south with the Red Hawk mercenaries."
"Destination?"
"We still don't know…"
"And the adjutant hasn't spilled anything?"
"He seemed extremely dissatisfied, but didn't say what Demon King Berze is actually doing."
"Does he at least have loyalty?"
It wasn't loyalty. He simply couldn't bring himself to admit to the other adjutants that his Demon King had given an entire floor to a princess and brought in a Hero.
"Keep probing him subtly during your chats. Report immediately if anything comes up."
"Yes."
"And don't take your eyes off that elf."
"I will."
"What about the Hero?"
"Hillen Cargill has left Hilderan and is passing through the Kingdom of Endine. The number of Heroes has increased to forty, and including the mercenaries and merchants traveling with them, the total is 141."
"Faster than expected. I wonder how many more will join before they reach Ergest. Considering who their opponent is…"
In his desperation to survive a little longer, Berze had made the worst possible move.
It was too dangerous a place for amateurs to approach—so the kingdom had appealed to its strongest Hero.
The fundamental problem was that he'd kidnapped Hilderan's crown princess. That too, no doubt, came from his signature arrogance.
"Hillen Cargill."
The true Hero who beheaded the Lust Demon King.
"After killing Turerus and absorbing that fame and power, he must be even stronger now."
"At this rate, Berze may meet his first and last Hero."
"He charged around like a lunatic—serves him right. Still, it's unsettling. Let's stir things up a bit more."
"How…?"
"Heroes love strategies. They like gathering intel and dismantling their opponent step by step."
Draxon snapped his fingers.
"He controlled flame, didn't he?"
"Yes, the black flame."
"Send that information to the Hero's side. Subtly. Make sure it can't be traced back to us."
"Yes."
Humans had no idea what kind of Demon King Berze was. No idea how to prepare or what strategy to use.
Even just telling them he used flame would change the battle drastically.
Ensuring Berze's defeat.
Khehehehe—
Draxon grinned wickedly.