Stubborn, stubborn—always stubborn.
"Nothing special after all."
Logar rolled across the floor. Hillen kicked him and spat.
"A so-called hero picking up a hammer for a Demon King? And those mana cannons that screwed us—were those your work too?"
"Damn right! My only regret is that I didn't put in more effort and cut your life short in one shot! And you call yourself a hero—yet you smash someone else's craftsmanship like that?!"
"You filthy bastard. Dimensional power must be weeping."
Rage surged up and Hillen kicked Logar again. With a strangled scream, Logar went limp.
"I'm busy as hell, and this trash shows up."
He wanted to interrogate the dwarf to vent his frustration, but the Demon King was chasing from behind.
He didn't have a single second to waste, yet some so-called fellow hero was picking a fight—it nearly made his blood boil.
"If you're having fun, keep going. From a Demon King's perspective, watching heroes fight each other isn't something you get to see often."
It was already too late.
"Hah."
At some point, the Demon King had arrived and was seated calmly at the entrance to the tower. He had even brought a chair—an arrogance that could only be interpreted as mockery.
Escape? Impossible.
From start to finish, he had played right into the Demon King's hands.
"What the hell are you supposed to be?"
"A Demon King. Berze Deias, to be exact."
"Who doesn't know that?!"
"Asking while knowing—quite a bad habit."
The Demon King was thoroughly amused by the situation.
Especially because of how it contrasted with his past life.
Demon Kings and heroes. Heroes and Demon Kings.
In his memory, the one mocked was the Demon King. The one used was the Demon King. The one who died in the end—also the Demon King.
But now?
Everything was reversed.
He was mocking the hero. Toying with him. Jabbing at him. And with that came the restoration of his pride shattered just before his regression.
"I tried, you know. I tried a hundred times to understand why there were no monsters or demons here."
Not placing troops in a fortress was the lord's prerogative. Fine, that was simple enough to rationalize. But no one in their right mind would put an ogre as a castle doorman.
"How the hell did you recruit the princess and this piece of garbage? Some kind of mind-magic?"
"Sadly, I'm no good at that sort of thing."
Fwoom—
Berze produced black flames.
"My specialty is flame manipulation. You already knew that."
Yes, he'd heard it.
Hillen ground his teeth.
He had heard—from a noble's mouth—that this Demon King specialized in fire magic. So he had spent a ridiculous fortune equipping every member of his party with fire-resistant gear.
And for what? He had not seen a single spark of flame since coming here. His money had been burned for nothing.
"Don't tell me that rumor was also your—"
"Unfortunately, no."
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. I asked how you controlled the princess."
"To give you the answer upfront—it wasn't control. It was persuasion. The princess willingly chose to become my ally."
"Bullshit! There's no way the princess would follow a Demon King like you!"
"Why not? Even a bastard like you followed me, didn't you?"
The reply came from elsewhere. Hillen's pupils widened.
The Demon King was right here. Which meant the elf… wasn't dead after all?
"Granada…?"
"Drop the honorifics, you shit. We've seen each other at our worst—no need for manners."
"Ah, right. I should introduce him properly. This one is my subordinate, who has sworn to serve me for a hundred years. He's called Granada."
"···Even an elf?"
This was insane.
What the hell was going on?
"What are you?! Are you even really a Demon King?!"
"Of course I am—why else would I build a tower?!"
CRACK—
Granada's knee smashed into Hillen's jaw.
"You're the bastard who tried to sacrifice me."
Repeated heavy blows slammed into him, and his vision went black.
"What do we do with the unconscious ones outside?"
"Bring them all to the underground prison."
He hadn't expected the number of prisoners to exceed their own tower personnel.
He let out a quiet laugh. He just couldn't help it.
"Are you insane?"
"I think you're the one who's insane. Your mental conditioning needs more work."
"I'll go collect them immediately!"
Granada darted away. Gordon, who had been quietly listening, lowered his head.
"···You were correct, my lord."
The heart of a demon who worshiped tradition always screamed in protest, but deep down he had suspected this outcome.
If things went this way—even the greatest hero wouldn't have been able to do anything.
Berze's methods were insane, but strangely effective.
Still, suspicion and certainty were different.
Watching everything unfold before his eyes, Gordon realized—
If they had done things the traditional way…
Built the tower in plain sight.
Sent monsters to intercept the hero.
Placed weak monsters on the first floor.
Would they have stopped the hero?
No. Absolutely not.
Gordon took pride in tradition and in the Demon Realm, but he wasn't stupid.
If they had followed tradition…
They would have died. Without a doubt.
The enemies wouldn't have split up so easily.
There wouldn't have been casualties the moment the doors opened.
And without the princess, there would have been no easy way to capture Hillen Cargill.
He had been wrong. The Demon King had been right.
Come to think of it, his talent had always been well known…
Before he insulted tradition, Berze had been known as one of the most brilliant talents in history. The Demon King Academy had existed for thousands of years, and he had been called the best among all its graduates.
"I'll assist you with greater loyalty from now on, my lord. I'll work hard to be worthy of standing beside you."
"At least you won't argue with me anymore. That's good."
"······."
For his heartfelt sincerity to receive that reply—
Gordon remembered why he hated this stubborn Demon King so much.
"At long last."
Draxon was in an unusually good mood today.
A report had arrived from the subordinates dispatched to Hortonwalk.
"The hero expedition is nearing its end. The moment the hero party climbs the mountain and opens the tower's gate—"
It must have been his final moment.
Krrrk, hrrrk. Just imagining that arrogant neck being lopped off brought me joy.
"What do you think, Berze? His head will roll, won't it?"
"Hillen Cargill's combat power in the past was never rated very highly."
He had a reputation for being better at politics than actual skill. Of course, that was only when compared to the top-tier heroes.
"But that's an old story now."
Ever since he killed the Demon King of Lust, public opinion had reversed.
Just as the demons grew stronger by hunting heroes, heroes also grew stronger by subjugating demons.
The Demon King devoured the humans' negative emotions born from the hero's fame, while the hero converted the Demon King's power itself into interference power and absorbed it. The method differed, but the result was the same.
"The elf hero, Brutein—who had carried everyone's expectations—died, and it was Hillen who took his head in the end. Surprising, yes, but what matters is that he accomplished it and absorbed the power. Of course, how much he has digested it is another matter."
At the very least, it would be enough for him to face Berze right now.
No matter how much people raved about Berze being the greatest first-rank in history, he was still a rookie who had just crossed over.
To say nothing of the fact that he had never used a single demon-energy point on himself.
His interference power would be exactly the same as when he first arrived, and in that state, the Demon King could never defeat Hillen Cargill, even if he died and came back to life.
Therefore, he was certain.
One day passed, then two, then three, then four.
Time went by. And just when Draxon's patience reached its limit, the long-awaited rumor finally arrived.
『Th-the…』
"Speak quickly. Hillen Cargill came down the mountain proudly holding Berze's head, didn't he?"
『They say they still don't know whether he succeeded or failed.』
"What nonsense is that! Didn't you say the hero squad has returned?!"
『Only the stragglers came down—like Watton, who gave up halfway because they couldn't find the tower. Hillen and some others are still on Mount Erzest.』
"They couldn't find the tower…?"
Impossible.
The tower should have been standing proudly in the most obvious place.
"It should be on the highest peak, at the summit! Those idiots have been heroes for years—don't they even know that?!"
『That's… apparently not the case.』
『They searched around after failing to find the tower at the summit, but still no results. Eventually the exhausted Watton and a few others withdrew.』
Good grief.
Draxon slapped his forehead.
Only then did he grasp the full situation.
"That crazy bastard! I called him a blockhead, but he really is a blockhead!"
It wasn't enough for him to insult the tradition—he had outright broken it.
A half-failure.
The return of the hero squad, led by Watton Collo, brought no small shock to the world.
"Hillen Cargill failed? This Demon King must be incredibly strong!"
"A tremendous Demon King has arrived!"
"Hillen Cargill hasn't returned."
"Don't tell me he didn't just fail—did he die?"
All sorts of rumors and speculation spread. The negative rumors all became points for Berze, but the people didn't know that.
As the rumors swelled out of control, Watton Collo held a press meeting as their representative.
"It is not yet a failure. I and some of the hero squad withdrew only because we felt our own inadequacy. Hillen Cargill and the great heroes following him are still searching for the Demon King's tower, so there is still hope."
But that created another controversy.
"Why are they searching for the tower? Does that mean the Demon King's tower isn't at the summit?"
"Isn't a tower always in the most obvious place? There hasn't been a single Demon King who didn't do that!"
Their failure—the new questions they brought about this Demon King—spread confusion everywhere.
And those shaken the most were the ones whose profession was to hunt Demon Kings.
"So this Demon King is different from all the others?"
"Yes, that's correct."
Watton, summoned to the headquarters of the Hero Guild, bowed his head. Five shadows surrounded him.
In the heavy atmosphere, he forced himself to stay composed.
"Hero Watton, recount the events precisely."
"If there is even the slightest lie, you will pay the price."
"I swear that before the guild's elders, I shall speak only the truth."
From the beginning of their hero expedition to the moment he gave up, Watton told the whole story and then departed.
"…There has never been a Demon King like this."
"A Demon King who hides his tower and doesn't send monsters? I'd sooner believe a dwarf lives in a tree."
"But Watton wouldn't lie. The other heroes said the same thing."
"That's what makes it stranger. Why would a Demon King suddenly act like that? To break the sacred tradition they hold so dearly? He must be a complete lunatic!"
A moment of silence followed. But none of them present knew the answer.
Unless they asked him directly.
"A decision shall be made."
At the heavy voice, the five elders bowed their heads.
"This Demon King has several peculiarities."
"First: he did not send monsters or demons to obstruct the hero expedition."
"Second: he built his tower in the harsh land of Erzest."
"Third: he hid it not on the summit, but in a covert location."
"We do not yet know whether Hillen Cargill has won or lost, but these variables will pose great problems for future hero expeditions."
"Therefore…"
"As acting chair in the absence of the guildmaster, I shall verify these abnormalities."
"According to the pact between the Demon King and the guild, I will formally request cooperation regarding these variables."
The meeting came to an end.
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