I went to the palace first thing in the morning. I was surprised to see the traces of battle in the palace but what surprised more was the fact that once you crossed a certain wall in the palace, you would hardly see any trace of battles.
Although I didnt know who was in charge of the battle in the palace, they sure had amazing skills in controlling information and leadership.
After I finished the procedure needed to enter the palace in a rather high-paced fashion, I entered the Crown Princes office. While wondering if His Highness had a lot of things to do after our eting, I bowed to him.
Your Highness. Welner von Zeavert, at your service.
Sir Welner. Thank you for coming and good work.
Praise right after we t? Lets be humble here.
I am grateful for your words, but it was not my achievent alone.
Im not talking about Finnoi. Im talking about the incident in Alea village.
As I looked at His Highness with a confused expression, he started to explain.
First of all, I comnd you for protecting the family of the Hero Mazell.
Thank you for your praise.
Mazells little sister vaguely rembered what happened when she was almost kidnapped, so we were able to gain information from her. We were only able to question her because Sir let the Hearthing family return first to the capital. If we did not have her information, the damage we suffered might be worse.
What kind of information did she have to make you say so, Your Highness?
According to His Highness, when Lily-san was about to be fed sothing, she heard the words [use her body] and [resurrection] but she didnt understand what they ant by [use her body]. I guess, just like her brother, she had an excellent mory.
The Mage Captain also reported that the black gem had a mysterious ability to fascinate people who saw it, and there was also a report that Sir Puckler, who was investigating the gem, had been acting strangely.
The last piece of information was that one of the black gems which was supposed to be in the capital was sohow discovered in Alea Village. Putting all known information together, His Highness had one guess.
Most likely, the black gems are the devils soul. The words [use her body] ant that the black gems can take over or manipulate their victim. Since one of the black gems had been taken out of the capital, we can assu that soone has fallen to its fascination.
I see
In addition, I used the Mangold investigations result, which Sir has given us, as a reference, and began my own investigation. I found that the hooded figure who Mangold had been eting with was, in fact, Puckler, so it all fits.
With His Highnesss explanation, I finally understood how the Demon Generals in the ga were resurrected. So they were the type of enemies who wouldnt die until you didnt destroy their cores. Wait
If the demon generals revived by taking control of soone elses body if the black gem that appeared in the Alea Village was Dreaxs core and if Lily-san had eaten it
Wouldnt that an that Mazell would have to fight the Demon General Dreax, who had taken control of his sisters body, in Finnoi or in so other dungeons? In short, Mazell would have ended up pointing his sword toward his own sister!? If I didnt make it in ti a chill ran down on my spine.
I needed to explain the danger of the black gems to Mazell, but lets keep it a secret from Lily-san.
Still, I wondered whose body the Demon Generals used to revive in the ga? Maybe it was His Highnesss body or maybe the body of the Knight Captain? Was it possible that they didnt die but were captured alive in the demon outbreak (Stampede) event?
If they were actually captured alive in the demon outbreak, that would an that the story began to change all the way to when we defeated the demon outbreak.
Yet another question ca to my mind. Just how exactly did the capital get destroyed in the ga? Lets assu that when I t Sir Puckler, which ans before Laura joined the hero party, demons had already infiltrated the capital.
In the ga, maybe Mazell didnt find the black gem. But after he left the place where he defeated the outbreak mastermind, the kingdom should have sent an investigator to that place and the investigator should have found the gem. But in the end, that gem didnt appear in the ga, so perhaps the person who found it might be a demon disguised as a human, which was why they hid the gems existence. If that was true, that ans even that early into the ga, the demon had infiltrated the capital.
At first, I thought that the capital was destroyed in the ga because of an external attack, but maybe what had actually happened was the capital was destroyed by the infiltrating demons. Which begat a question, why?
I assud the event where the capital was destroyed in the ga was a convenient plot device to make Mazell a king but if the demons had planned to destroy the capital from the very start and even made this intricate plan to do so, the demon must have had a proper purpose to destroy the capital, but what was that purpose?
I almost began to get lost in my own thoughts, but I stopped. This wasnt the ti to think about that. His Highness then continued his story.
By carefully tracking down the people who had contacted Puckler, we were able to sort out who was suspicious in the capital. Thanks to the hard work of the guards and the knights, the palace was cleaned up yesterday, but
But?
Puckler, or rather, the devil who claid to be one of the demon generals, Gezarius, who had taken over Pucklers body might have escaped. One of our n who was greedy for achievents attacked Puckler before the encirclent was finished, causing him to escape. This was a painful mistake.
His Highness was mocking himself, but what caught my attention wasnt that but the devils na. Gezarius? Who the hell was he? That na never appeared in the ga.
The Demon Generals I knew were Dreax, Beliulace, and the guy that appeared later in the ga, Avadorus. A Demon General nad Gezarius didnt appear in the ga. Wait a minute
In the ga, before the player could face the Demon King, they would face a series of boss battles against the resurrected 3 Demon Generals.
At that ti, I thought what the Demon Generals were guarding was the room, not the doors, but what if what they were actually guarding were the doors? Since there were four doors, that would an there were supposed to be four Demon Generals, not three.
Maybe there was actually the fourth demon general, but he was cut off from the ga because of insufficient mory. If this was true, then Gezarius appearance would make sense, but there were still too many questions that I didnt have any answer to, but for now, lets focus on thinking about the problem in front of .
What do you an by might?
The encirclent composed of the Mage Unit, the Royal Guard, and the palace guard has certainly given him a close to fatal wound. But after that, he crossed the palace walls to escape and then he disappeared. We also couldnt find the black gem. Sir, what do you think about this incident?
We have to assu that he can return to a human form, though I hope this isnt true.
I agree.
If he could return to his human form, then it would be almost impossible to search for him among the many humans who lived in the capital. Or rather, he disappeared? Really? Even though, in the ga, you couldnt avoid a boss battle with a demon general no matter what you did?
Did our side suffer any damages?
Yes. We have a fair amount of casualties and so missing people. We knew Puckler might be a devil, so we kept our guard up around him but we never expected that he, a demon commander, would just straight up reveal himself and go on a rampage in the middle of the laboratory.
Well, since he didnt try to deceive us with his words or anything else, but just straight up went into a rampage, it would be no wonder that we had so casualty on our side. Maybe the demon side had also been cautious ever since they were found infiltrating Finnoi.
Moreover, according to His Highness, Sir Pucklers body swelled up and when it looked like it was about to explode, that was when the demon general revealed himself. Your train of thought would stop if you saw that kind of scene. Even the adventurers would be surprised.
But from His Highness story, I could conclude that with proper preparation, the Knights and the Mages of this world could fight with a demon general. Good thing I could confirm this.
Wait a minute. A boss class demon should have his own subordinates, right? Was it that the black gem didnt disappear with Gezarius, but rather they were secretly taken away to a safe place by his subordinates?
I wouldnt go as far as to say he had planned everything perfectly but at least soone on the level of a demon general should have prepared so kind of insurance in case he was found out, right? Maybe there were so devils disguised as humans among the people that went missing in this incident, and they were the ones that took the black gems. Lets investigate this later.
Now that I think about it, why the Demon King was revived was also a mystery. I wonder if the Demon King was revived by taking over soone elses body, just like the Demon generals Ah!! stop thinking too much, !
Will this incident affect the research about counterasures against Area Magic?
No. For better or worse, the researchers were still stuck in their research room when the incident happened.
So no actual harm was done. As long as the researchers were fine, I could assu that there was no problem with the research. On the other hand, the fact that they didnt even co out with such a big commotion might an that the research has progressed little, but I guess I should be happy because the research project didnt suffer any actual harm. Plus, if the research had actually progressed by leap and bound, the research team might have been targeted by the devils.
Speaking of which, what sort of appearance does the demon commander have?
He looked like a mix between a lion and a human. He was fast, strong, and the most troubleso trait of his was his great jumping power.
So that guy was a Lycanthrope. Co to think of it, in the ga, the Undead, the Reptipos, and the Giant each had their own demon general, but there was no Lycanthrope demon general.
(T/N: Ive been translation Reptipos as just reptile demon. This was the first ti the Reptipos na has appeared so I will continue to use this.)
Wait, that would an
Will the area near the land that was forrly Triot beco dangerous?
So you noticed it or rather have you also been investigating this, Sir?
His Highness looked surprised. Actually, I investigated nothing, Your Highness. In the ga, the area near Triot was where Lycanthrope-type demons like the Werewolves and Weretiger often appeared. It looked like His Highness misunderstood , though.
I also got the information from the refugees that the area near Triot was where many werewolves often appeared. If that guy is alive, then as Sir has probably feared, he will most likely flee there and is currently building up his force.
Wouldnt that an the Marquis Knaps territory, which bordered Triot, is in the most danger?
Sir is correct, but we cant just send our military force to a nobles territory.
It would be impossible for Marquis Knap to defend his territory alone but if the kingdom sent a military force and created defense facilities in the Knaps territory, it would cause problems like, would that area where the defense facilities were to be built beco the property of the royal family? And who would take care of the food supplies of that military force? Everything would be easier if the Marquis house understood the situation and asked the kingdom for help, but I doubt the Marquis and his vassals would do that.
In the end, helping Marquisate Knap was troubleso. The kingdom needed to think of the supply, how to create a defense facility, the budget, etc.
However, it would also be impossible for a noble house to take care of that demon general on its own. Sigh as expected, even trying to help a noble house would co with many troubleso entanglents.
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