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Chapter 17
Surrounding Rimarze stood large anti-demon protective walls. And right now, these walls were being swarmed by smaller half-demons like goblins or orcs. It was clear they were just relying on their numbers to overwhelm the opponent. The soldiers stationed on the walls rained down salves of arrows, using attack magic to thin out their numbers. As a result, the demons’ corpses piled up like mountains, and yet they used this as a means of climbing even higher. The sheer sight of that terrified the human soldiers, even though they had a clear advantage.
“How did they get this close to us?!” Garadoff, present in the command center back in Rimarze, slammed his hands on the desk.
There must be at least a hundred thousand demons surrounding Rimarze right now that it was hard to fully tell. And yet, according to reports, they didn’t realize this before it was already too late.
“All I can think of is that they snuck into our territory and then grouped up to attack us all at once,” Milena calmly argued, but Garadoff couldn’t just let that happen.
“That’s the only possibility I can think of. But no matter how much we try to analyze it, they couldn’t have possibly snuck past the eyes of our guards!”
They had plenty of guards on patrol, as well as watch towers, so the demons shouldn’t have made it this close to Rimarze without anybody realizing.”
“Normally speaking, yes…But what if the opponent was aware of the positions of the watch towers or the patrol routes of our guards?” Milena’s statement instantly changed the atmosphere in the room.
She was only hinting at one thing.
“Someone leaked information…We have a traitor amongst humanfolk, is what you’re saying.” Maizer filled in the blanks, as noise began to fill the room.
“That’s impossible.”
“I can’t believe that.”
Many others denied this assumption but it would explain this situation all too well.
“That might also explain why our attack force in the demon territory is being attacked at the same time,” Milena calmly exclaimed.
She had already received reports of the situation over on Kyle’s end, understanding that she couldn’t ask for reinforcements. And today was also the day of the scheduled meetings that gathered the highest-ranking officials of humanfolk. If there was a time to strike, it would be today. A victory here would guarantee a victory against humanfolk. The following reports didn’t make the situation seem any better. The only good notice they received was that evacuations were completed.
It seems the evacuation training has paid off.
So said Milena, mentally praising Kyle for his suggestion.
“So, what do we do now? If this situation has been caused by a traitor, they would know exactly where we are hiding, bringing us in great danger.”
All eyes in the room focused on Maizer. There was a high possibility that he was the target of this attack. To guarantee safety, he would probably have to escape immediately, using the emergency wyverns on the rooftop. However, before Maizer could make a decision—the situation worsened.
Outside the window, loud explosive sounds rang out, as smoke rose from all over town. Of course, they immediately assumed that the demons had broken through, but it didn’t come from the walls themselves. It was the center of town. And then, someone came storming into the room.
“Demons have appeared within Rimarze, so we are trying to fight them back!”
Even the person reporting this looked like he couldn’t even believe it.
“So they used our escape route against us…” Garadoff cursed as he guessed the reason this happened.
With the help of the dwarves from Gilbol, an underground network of tunnels had been created, the actual paths heavily locked and guarded, so not too many should have known of this. Clearly, someone has been leaking information. Rimarze was regarded as the utmost front of the battle against the demons, its protection greater than anywhere else. Even if a great number of soldiers went off to attack the Demon Lord’s castle, they had plenty to act as a defense. However, things were beginning to turn grim.
“Someone has leaked our information… That means even escaping with the wyverns might be dangerous. I would aim for that, at least,” declared Maizer.
“Everyone, please calm down. If we panic now, the soldiers fighting for our sake will realize.”
As the kings and rulers began to feel terror at the fact that they couldn’t escape, a voice cut through the tension like they had all been slapped across the face. All eyes in the room gathered on the person who voiced these words—Sakira. Up to this point, she never said anything, barely even appearing present during the meetings. Yet, her expression at that very point couldn’t be closer to that of a holy maiden who is now going to save the world.
“Let us show our unwavering trust and believe in the people who fight for us. That is all we can do right now,” she put her hands together like she was offering a prayer, which allowed some participants to calm down, while others only realized the gravity of the situation.
Whatever reaction might seem appropriate, the noise of the battle outside drowned out the silence within the room.
***
A small distance away from Rimarze, inside a half-destroyed building, appeared a group of demons who looked distinctively different from humanfolk. Some had giant arms acting like crushers, others were beastmen, but many of them looked terrifying enough to instill fear and terror into anybody who would lay their eyes on them. At the same time, some were beautiful enough to seduce any man, but their appearances varied greatly. The only common aspect of them…was the horn growing on their heads. As more and more of these demons appeared, one of them seemed rather meek and unimportant, yet this stood out even more. And unbefitting of his appearance, all the other demons showed great respect toward him.
The demon possessed a smile eerie enough to call it creepy, carrying the name Targ, and he was known to be the black-winged Demon Lord’s close aide. He would appear in the public eye instead of his master, giving orders or discussing plans. He was one of the big figures controlling the demon army from the shadows.
“Seems to be abandoned… As the reports suggested, they must have evacuated beforehand,” said Targ as he opened a map and exclaimed. “Hmph…so this is the evacuation site… It’s fine if you kill about half of them. The others will help us create more chaos or will do well as hostages. I’ll leave the rest up to you.”
“Understood!”
The other demons accepted these orders and spread in all directions. As for Targ, he had his eyes set on the command center, making his way there.
“…I doubt they’re going to panic and run away. Maybe there are some cool-minded individuals amongst them. If only they had ran away… Now I have to head over there myself.”
He had already prepared a flying demon that could fly to deal with them in that event.
“Will you be fine all on your own?”
“Yes, of course. I’m used to working solo… You just have to cause destruction and confusion. If we strike them down tonight…we will win,” Targ narrowed his eyes even more than usual as he walked through the empty streets of Rimarze. “Well, if you manage… It will take you a lot, I bet.”
He muttered with a quiet voice so that the demons around him couldn’t hear him. Although if someone did, they’d probably be terrified of the individual known as Targ.
Around the same time, Kyle was rushing through the battlefield in the demon territory. Kyle was already expected to be on the move in case of an emergency, so there’s no issue if he leaves the main army. He would cut down any demon he encountered on the way, making his way to his destination.
“Found you…”
The demon he was looking for stood on a small hill, looking down on the battlefield with a faint smirk.
“Oh, if it isn’t Kyle-kun. I’m surprised you could find me amongst this chaos…Well, your one chance to make it out of this is to defeat me, I would say,” Byakumu said with a tone of appreciation and surprise, keeping his smile.
This attitude solely came from the fact he thought he was superior. He assumed that nobody could ever hurt him, sure of his victory.
“A wonderful sight, don’t you think? It was all worth it to bait you into an attack… I must say, I underestimated your strength. That is why we changed our plans and decided to destroy you in one fell swoop. I don’t like it very much, but it’s better than losing against you humans,” Byakumu explained with a delighted tone.
However, he seemed disappointed that Kyle showed no reaction.
“You might have already heard, but Rimarze has already fallen victim to our hands. Your parents and little sister…Alessa, was it? You must be worried about them.”
When he brought up his younger sister’s name, Kyle’s expression visibly distorted in anger, which gave Byakumu the rush he needed.
“You know an awful lot… Almost like you’ve heard it from someone close to me.”
“Oh, I guess you’ve realized it by now? Why yes, we have people who serve the demons amidst your ranks.”
“Talking about this guy?”
Appearing there was Seran and another individual clad in a black hood, not allowing you to see if they were a man or woman. Both they and Seran carried a large bag on their shoulders, and when they threw them to the ground, groans could be heard from the inside.
“It was easy bringing him here in all that confusion,” Kyle said while opening the bag, revealing Lord Foken and Raynor.
They were tied up, unable to break free.
“Is that the human king they call Foken?” Byakumu asked with a dubious tone, only to let out a smirk when he realized who it was. “Yes, he’s our source of information. But just to let you know, we don’t care what happens to him. He was just a bit helpful, but that’s about it. If you wanna finish him off, I’m not stopping you,” Byakumu bluntly declared.
Hearing that, Foken was furious.
“D-Don’t give me that crap! Are you Byakumu?! How do you intend to start the negotiations if I’m not around?! Aren’t you the guys in trouble? Hurry up and save me!”
Seran had removed the cloth covering Foken’s mouth, but he immediately regretted that.
“Negotiations? What are you talking about?”
“D-Don’t take me for a fool! Your side was struggling to keep the assaults going, and if you won this last fight, you would negotiate…wasn’t that the deal?! Do you plan on playing dumb now?!”
Byakumu looked at him with an emotionless gaze.
“Are you serious right now? Why would we demons try to negotiate with some pesky humans? You just begged for your life, asking to be put in place as the governor of the former human territory once we won the war!”
Kyle tried his hardest to control his laughter, but the two didn’t realize this.
“You gave us a secret route leading to your base of operations, so why would we start negotiating for some ceasefire?”
“A secret route? What are you talking about? Are you using that to attack Rimarze? W-What about that female demon?! She was the one I negotiated with!”
“Female demon? Who are you referring to? Oh yeah, what about the human woman who was supposed to be your negotiator?”
Foken looked at Raynor, but he just shook his head.
“Could you possibly be talking about these two?”
Together with Kyle’s words, the person with the hood revealed themselves.
“Y-You are…!”
It was the female demon Yuriga. Seeing her here, Foken was in utter disbelief. Even Byakumu couldn’t hide his shock, but there was something else. Seran put his hand on his own face, pulling off a layer of skin. Appearing from beneath that—was Minagi with her black hair.
“In this fight, humanfolk will lose and retreat. You will end up a prisoner but through negotiating with the Demon Lord, you’re going to achieve a ceasefire and then reestablish your position as king—that is what I, as Byakumu’s representative, discussed with you. Isn’t that right, Lord Foken?”
Listening to Yuriga’s explanation, Foken finally realized that he had been deceived, his eyes turning into empty husks.
“And I, acting as Lord Foken’s representative, handled the discussions with Byakumu, saying that I would offer every information I had about humanfolk in return for guaranteeing your safety. And with that information, he planned the all-out attack on Rimarze and us here.”
Minagi’s explanation made Byakumu grit his teeth in turn.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Foken howled.
“It’s simple. You also betrayed humanfolk before. Although, since we were about equal this time, I wasn’t sure if you would actually do it, but it seems you never change, do you?”
Needless to say, Foken didn’t understand what Kyle meant.
“You don’t have to understand. But, the demons are just as simple. You’re the only person who turns stupid when he’s looking down on humanfolk, Byakumu.”
When Kyle remembered Byakumu’s confident smirk from earlier, he had to laugh. Of course, Byakumu didn’t like that very much.
“Acting like you’re worth some crap even though you’re just a pesky human… And what about you?! How dare you side with those humans?! Do you have no pride as a demon?” Byakumu glared at Kyle and Minagi while cursing Yuriga, but she just responded with a cold look.
“The Demon Lord has agreed to this, so you can say whatever you please, it matters not to me,” Yuriga calmly shot back.
“But…But what will you do now?! You’re being cornered! Don’t underestimate our forces!”
As Byakumu stated, the situation of the battle in front of them was chaotic. However, the ones pressing were still the demons.
“Underestimate? I’ll let you know, I’m probably the one on this whole continent who truly knows how terrifying you guys are… Anyway, I think it’s time?”
“Yep, right on,” Yuriga responded.
Right then, Kyle heard a voice from his sword.
‘They’re here, Kyle! To the south!’
This voice belonged to Shildonia, who had created a separate body through magic to fly through the sky as a bird, observing the battlefield. It was thanks to her that Kyle managed to find Byakumu, too. And just as she had stated, something was drawing closer over from the south. It was another smaller army of demons, but Byakumu seemed to be surprised at that.
“Th-They can’t be…”
If they were soldiers that Byakumu didn’t know of, there was only one explanation—they must serve Luiza.
“The guy at the front must be Creet. I just hope he can handle this…” Yuriga said, uttering the name of one of the demons serving under Luiza.
With the arrival of Luiza’s army, they completely destroyed the formation and advantage that Byakumu’s force had.
“Great timing. Now this surprise attack of yours means nothing. And of course, we sent forces over to Rimarze as well. Well, it’s a bit of a gamble, but there’s nothing more reliable than them,” Kyle exclaimed with a smirk. “It’s time for a counterattack.”
CClaw Translations 