Gaderia Territory.
A new wave of change was beginning to unfold.
Glück had informed Aaron of his encounter with Wolf. The once-peaceful, steadily developing Gaderia had entered a state of war readiness once again, and the lax vigilance that had settled over the land in recent times was swiftly tightening.
Unlike the previous affair with Earl Mannier, what they now faced was the Imperial family of the Northern Empire itself.
Nanoda and Yuna had only just returned from their travels not long ago. Upon learning that Duke Wolf had not only survived their last encounter but had since moved to tempt Glück into betraying the alliance, Nanoda found herself utterly baffled.
She'd cut him into several pieces — and he'd lived?
She turned it over and over in her mind and still couldn't make sense of it. All she could conclude was that the world of magic was a truly extraordinary place.
— Demon Special Zone.
Aura was munching on an apple, watching the dispute unfolding before her with considerable interest. She had only happened to pass by.
"Enough talking already — just fight!" she called out.
Both Draht and Schulek, who had been in the middle of a heated argument, stopped and stared.
"Lady Aura!"
Draht's impatience evaporated on the spot, replaced by a posture of deep, unmistakable deference.
"Hello," said Schulek.
Schulek was a blunt, taciturn sort; pleasantries weren't really in his vocabulary. A simple greeting was all he offered.
"Don't look at me — if you're going to fight, get on with it. I was looking forward to... ah, witnessing the whole thing."
Aura was mildly put out. The moment she'd arrived, both Demon generals had immediately shifted their full attention onto her.
This damned charm of mine.
"Hmph. Well, since Lady Aura is here to bear witness — let's settle once and for all who's stronger!"
Since his defeat at Nanoda's hands, Draht had spent years grinding away at his Mana Wire magic. The confidence that had been ground down in him had clawed its way back. If he couldn't sharpen his craft by killing humans anymore, he'd find sparring partners among his own kind. One day, he would repay the humiliation of that day. And the fellow standing across from him right now — same rank, same station — was a perfectly adequate test subject.
"We're supposed to be on the same side now, aren't we? Seems unnecessary," Schulek said flatly.
He hefted his greatsword over his shoulder, looking thoroughly unenthused, and very much wishing he could simply ignore the suspender-wearing Demon in front of him.
He took a step forward, intending to walk around Draht and leave.
"Did I say you could go?"
Draht extended one hand. Several threads of wire shot from between his fingers and snapped across the path of the large, horned Demon like a barrier.
Schulek sighed and stopped walking.
"Have you ever been on a battlefield of tens of thousands?"
"No. Not yet."
Even as the words left Draht's mouth, the greatsword swung — a flash of lightning. Caught completely off-guard, Draht threw himself aside in a desperate dodge, mana wires shooting from his hand at the same time.
The greatsword sliced through one of the straps on Draht's suspenders and left a shallow gash beneath it. In the same instant, Draht's mana wires wound themselves around the handle and blade of Schulek's greatsword.
"You dare sucker-punch me?"
Draht's face was expressionless. His voice was flat — but something faintly like anger stirred beneath the surface.
"I'm Schulek the Lightning. On every battlefield I've ever walked, only those who eliminated the enemy around them fast survived — by any means necessary."
"That said, I did hold back. The fact that you managed to dodge that strike... you're not half bad, I suppose. I'd intended to put you down with serious injuries and end it right there."
Both Schulek and Draht wielded mana at the general level — but even among generals, there were gradations. In this world, experience and battle-hardened instinct counted for a great deal.
Compared to Schulek, who had served since the era of the Demon King, Draht had talent — but he was simply too young.
"I am Draht! I am the Demon who will one day become Lady Aura's executioner!"
He pulled the wires from his other hand back, winding them together with the first set around Schulek's greatsword.
Schulek found that no matter how hard he wrenched and swung the blade, he could not break free of the wires coiled around it. Under Draht's ten-fingered command, the massive five-foot greatsword in his grip was beginning to feel unruly — the two of them locked in a grinding contest of raw force.
Aura tossed away the gnawed apple core without looking and decided this was decent enough entertainment.
"Schulek — if you're going to sucker-punch someone, commit to it. Failing to put them down in one go is honestly embarrassing."
"Draht — your wire technique is too straightforward. Try a curved arc to get around his guard and hit from an angle."
In reasonably good spirits, Aura offered a few pointers.
"Hmph."
Seeing the deadlock drag on, Schulek simply let go — releasing the greatsword entirely, wires and all, sending the whole thing flying. Then his footwork kicked into gear and his fist moved like a thunderbolt.
At that moment, Draht was still trying to reel in the wires tangled around the greatsword — and then the fist was already in his face.
BOOM.
Like a kite with its string cut, Draht went sailing backwards and crashed into the ground, out cold.
The mana wires still coiled around the greatsword dissolved into nothing.
Schulek picked his greatsword up off the ground, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and walked away without looking back. As for Draht — he couldn't even be bothered to spare him a glance.
"Hey. Wake up. Weren't you talking about becoming my executioner? And this is all you've got?"
Aura gave the unconscious Draht a kick and found him completely unresponsive — limp as a dead dog.
She shook her head and turned to leave as well.
She walked along the dirt path running beside the farmland, watching the stone-faced Demons toiling away in the fields — hoes rising and falling, blades breaking earth, crops swaying in the breeze.
Aura kept feeling like something was missing.
After watching Draht and Schulek's bout, some deep, animal instinct had stirred awake inside her — a craving for real conflict.
Under her Magic of Obedience, she had built a new Demon army in these past years. The long period of restraint and cultivation had made her mana reserves grow formidable. She could give the order right now and march on cities with an army at her back.
But the Magic of Obedience had backlash built into it. Right now, she couldn't do any of that.
What if she broke free of the Magic of Obedience? Would she finally be free?
She was still turning that thought over when a familiar voice reached her from behind.
"Aura, what are you doing out here?"
It was Nanoda.
"Oh — supervising their work," Aura said.
"Is that so. I'm heading to the New Demon Association to talk through Gaderia's future defensive arrangements with Lugner. I'll be off, then."
"Sure."
Watching Nanoda's retreating figure, Aura's feelings became complicated for a moment.
At first, she had despised Nanoda. Hated her.
She had believed that Nanoda — with her head perpetually full of peace and coexistence — was a naive fool.
And yet, following along beside her all this time, she hadn't eaten a single person — but life had been reasonably stable. Not having to live in constant dread of some Hero showing up wasn't so bad, either.
The resentment she'd carried toward Nanoda had slowly, quietly drained away.
Still — there was always this uncomfortable feeling. This sense of being subordinate. Of being beneath someone else. That, she genuinely could not stand.
She didn't know why, but in this moment Aura felt an overwhelming hunger for freedom. Quietly, in the depths of her heart, she made a decision.
She would find a way to break the Magic of Obedience binding her to Nanoda.
If Nanoda had been able to develop the Magic of Obedience in the first place — then surely, developing a method to undo it wasn't impossible.
____
👻🔥Heey! Walnut-chan for more chapters!🔥👻
🔥 New history: Re:Zero: Wrath Route Yandere Emilia Watches the Projection
✅ Unlock a 40-chapter backlog for ALL my series.
✅ Receive exclusive content and regular updates!
Help us reach these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 universal bonus chapter
👻 P - Walnut-chan