Chapter 185: The Price Berfht Had to Pay
Hero’s march.
When had that thing—once sothing that made Demon Kings tremble and was considered an opportunity for humans to earn a single great rit—lost its luster?
It had been after the Demon King of Dark Fla appeared.
Even the so-called brightest stars failed to even find a tower, let alone complete a hero’s march, and although the entire continent even ford an alliance, it instead reached a peak by producing over ten thousand casualties.
The Demon King was weak.
Humans held superiority over the Demon King.
Humans could coexist with the Demon King, if only in a limited way.
Under human rcy and necessity.
Those notions that had been injected for over a hundred years, that had been implicitly accepted as obvious, were completely shattered.
The Demon King was not weak.
Humans and the Demon King could not coexist.
Humans and the Demon King were enemies.
The Demon King could not be trusted.
But there was not much humans could do right away.
The damage inflicted by the Demon King of Dark Fla was growing like bamboo shoots after rain, yet the whereabouts of that tower were still completely unknown.
Sorrow and rage that had lost their destination turned elsewhere.
The sa Demon King.
An existence that had to be exterminated.
A powerful one who knew the location of a tower and had dealt humans defeat.
Toward the Demon King of Frost, Reina Sordein.
About three hundred heroes.
Fifty thousand allied troops.
And four stars, led by Balraf Dislode.
Considering that a hero’s march was originally at least several hundred and at most around a thousand, it was an extrely unusual affair.
This was not a simple hero’s march, but an extension of the alliance.
A war between the Demon King and humans. Although they had failed to search for the Tower of Dark Fla, the vanguard of that war, they were filled with determination to kill the Demon King of Frost and, by all ans, overturn that failure.
“The snowfields are in sight.”
“I see.”
A pure white world stretching endlessly until the horizon was visible. Balraf Dislode exhaled white breath.
His brow faintly twisted.
He did not like it. Although the terrain was different, the fact that the entire world was snow reminded him of Ergest, the place that had made him taste defeat three tis.
“The location of the Tower of Frost is certain, right?”
“If you just follow the map, without fail.”
“I don’t trust maps.”
He had already been deceived once. Following Daphne Phillian’s recording orb only to experience a tower not being there was a painful blunder he never wanted to repeat.
That was why he had hired barbarians of the snowfields as guides. Not just one, but dozens, because he was worried.
“We will definitely guide Lord Balraf and the allied forces to the Tower of Frost.”
The barbarians shouted in unison. He did not particularly trust them, but nodded. To begin with, it was his first ti in the snowfields.
The snowfields were cold.
They made him recall that damn place.
Monsters appeared as well.
They made him recall that damn place once again.
Fortunately, there were no avalanches. Since it was not a mountain to begin with, an avalanche would not occur—
“Stop!”
Balraf shouted urgently. Taking one step forward, he swung his sword. A massively rising slash swept away everything in front of him.
─────!
Red flas surged up from within the pure white snow. A storm of mana swallowed the surroundings.
“...My god, what is that?”
“Mana bombs?”
Balraf widened his eyes.
The past overlapped—when a tower exploded, when flas rushed in from all directions.
“You bastards...!”
Grinding his teeth, Balraf forced himself to calm down.
“We, we survived!”
“We lived thanks to Lord Balraf!”
“Long live Lord Balraf!”
What mattered was not that it had been a trap. What mattered was that they had detected the trap in advance and destroyed it. And because of that, support directed toward him increased.
Yes, that was enough.
‘He said there was a possibility the Demon King of Dark Fla was helping the Demon King of Frost.’
That possibility had been real.
Balraf’s eyes sank coldly.
‘Fine, struggle to the very end.’
That would be your last struggle.
He had been caught off guard because he had never imagined that soone called a Demon King would use mana bombs. Balraf was not careless enough to fall for the sa trick twice.
“We detour around this area.”
“Detour around it!”
At Balraf’s order, the allied forces bypassed the burning pit of fire.
“Ugh, that’s horrifying.”
“These bastards. To think Demon Kings would use such petty thods.”
“As expected, all Demon Kings should be killed.”
The allied forces ground their teeth. The failed trap instead made their fighting spirit burn even hotter.
At that mont.
─!
The waist of the steadily advancing allied forces was cleanly cut.
The ground collapsed. Humans fell into a massive pit. Those who had blindly followed the person in front of them could not even scream.
Kururur—
The sound of sothing rolling was heard. The sounds of falling and being crushed followed.
Kkeuaaaak!
Keheok!
Agonised groans belatedly echoed and leaked out.
“Wh, what on earth is this...?”
Aina Diaphrin urgently jumped down into the pit. As she dove rapidly, her form landed softly at the end.
The pit was deep. A full twenty ters. For well-trained knights or mages, it might not be an insurmountable height, but the sudden fall and the sharp weapons strewn across the bottom could not be taken lightly.
Let alone massive boulders driving stakes down in that state.
“What on earth is going on?”
Balraf, his face stiffened, ca down as well. His expression twisted viciously at the sight of soldiers crushed into pulp beneath rocks.
“It’s designed to collapse only when it reaches a certain weight. When the trap activates and the targets fall, another chanism operates shortly after, causing the prepared boulders to roll down. It’s the work of an extrely skilled craftsman.”
“Dwarves?”
“Yes. It’s probably the work of those who are said to have been captured by the Demon King of Dark Fla.”
“You damn dwarves...!”
Fortunately, the damage was not enormous. It had been made with mana completely excluded. In maximizing stealth, even its destructive power had been reduced.
But that did not an the problem disappeared.
The fact that there were traps, and that they were hard to find. Even if they did not possess overwhelming destructive power, soone would die or be injured.
And no human wanted to be that soone.
Naturally, the advance would slow. They had taken a hit.
“If sothing strange is mixed in among the snow, can you detect it?”
“If we proceed while deploying detection magic, it’s possible. But the speed will slow significantly, and I alone can’t cover this vast snowfield.”
“What if we attach all the earth mages and water mages to you?”
“It would get better, but it wouldn’t be perfect.”
“Then do that.”
“As I said....”
“Is there another thod?”
“No.”
“Then what are you hesitating about?”
“Alright.”
Diana gathered the mages. Balraf briefly put distance between himself and them and sealed off the surroundings with mana.
He took out a communication device.
“You were right. The dwarves’ handiwork has appeared again.”
*
*
*
In the noisy great hall, the Kiing clutched his throbbing head.
How had things co to this?
“Silence! Everyone, be silent!”
The great hall fell quiet.
“Repeat their claims.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Arkan, Dormunt, Hessen, Hilderan....”
“Just refer to them as humans excluding Zespine.”
“Yes. The humans excluding Zespine are claiming that we joined hands with the Demon King of Dark Fla.”
It was because of the traps that had driven the alliance to death.
A ticulously erected fake tower by the Demon King, and the hundreds of mana bombs installed inside it.
That inferno devoured everything. It killed hundreds of heroes and produced over ten thousand casualties.
Humans claid that dwarves had designed that tower, and that they were cooperating with the Demon King.
From Berfht’s perspective, it was absurd, but it was certain that it was dwarven craftsmanship. And there was also a part that ca to mind. The forty-nine craftsn who had been abducted.
The Berfht Kingdom made the excuse that they must have been abducted by the Demon King and were cooperating against their will.
Of course, it did not work at all. The massive damage was too great to be resolved by re words, and in any case, it was also true that it had been made by dwarves.
Humans sought a target to vent their rage and resentnt. One was Frost, and the other was the dwarves.
So kingdoms threatened to annihilate the Berfht Kingdom imdiately. Quite a few kingdoms seed to agree, and the dwarves had no choice but to lower themselves as much as possible.
They absolutely had to avoid war.
“...Is there room for compromise?”
“The Kingdom of Arkan said that if all the parties involved were captured and sent to their holand, they would handle it themselves and let this matter go.”
“So they want to suck the craftsn and technology dry.”
Greedy bastards.
“What about the other countries?”
“That is....”
Most were similar.
It was true that great damage had been suffered due to dwarven technology, but the ones who had directly suffered that damage were, after all, the Empire and Dormunt.
The countries that were not directly involved were filled with thoughts of picking up the spoils that would fall from this incident.
“In that case.”
The king forced open his mouth that did not want to move.
“What about Dormunt?”
“The envoy was beaten and driven out. They apparently had no intention of even talking.”
“Hoo, then what remains is Zespine. What do you think they will say?”
“....”
The ministers fell silent. It was an answer enough.
“It’s utterly bleak.”
“Your Majesty, we must appeal our injustice to the entire continent. Honestly, we did our utmost to support them. When they tried to subjugate Lust, and when they tried to subjugate pirates.”
“That’s right. To put it bluntly, it’s not our fault that those madn collectively lost their minds and beca the Demon King’s lackeys, is it?”
The king’s brow creased.
“We’ve already said all that! That doesn’t matter to humans. Regardless of the reason, dwarves helped the Demon King, and as a result, great damage was done.”
“....”
At that mont, the doors of the great hall opened.
“Your Majesty, the envoy who went to Zespine has arrived.”
“Oh, welco! What did the Empire say!”
“Well....”
The dwarf, breathing roughly, prostrated himself flat.
“They said, ‘We are deeply regretful and understand the circumstances. However, the Empire has suffered enormous damage, and Berfht must pay a corresponding price.’”
My god.
The king rubbed his face. The ministers sighed.
It was the worst situation.
“...Do they truly want war?”
“No, that was not it.”
“Not it?”
“They wanted a different price. I spoke with the Emperor of the Empire and the ministers....”
*
*
*
The envoy lowered his body as far as he could. The Emperor’s pressure before his eyes made his heart tremble more than the hostility of the nobles felt from all sides.
“So the Berfht Kingdom claims it is unjustly accused.”
The Emperor muttered languidly.
“Yes. We also had the princess and the kingdom’s craftsn abducted by the Demon King of Dark Fla. If we were to fight, we would fight—why would we have any reason to cooperate with the Demon King?”
“Then what was that which drove my empire’s legions to their deaths. Were they not dwarves, but re short folk?”
“...It seems that the abducted craftsn are cooperating against their will in order to survive.”
He wanted to deny it, but the evidence was clear, so he could not. The envoy bowed his head even deeper.
“Cooperating against their will.”
The Emperor muttered languidly.
With each word, the envoy felt a chill run down his spine.
“Then you will understand if my empire is forced to burn the Berfht Mountains.”
“Your Majesty!”
“Is it not unavoidable?”
“Please spare us! Our kingdom has absolutely no intention of being hostile to the Empire!”
“The hostility has already been done. My children were caught in the monstrosities you created and vanished while screaming. Can the feelings of parents who lost their children be dismissed as re injustice?”
Moreover, I am the father of this nation.
“Your Majesty! Please...!”
At that mont.
The doors of the great hall opened, and a ssenger rushed in. The royal knights stopped him, heard his ssage, and whispered it into the Emperor’s ear.
“Oho.”
The Emperor’s lips twisted. The envoy realized that this was by no ans a good sign.
“Do you know what I have just heard?”
“...I do not.”
“They say the hero party that departed for the snowfields has fallen into dire straits due to mana bombs buried beneath the snow. They appear unmistakably to be dwarven workmanship. Sending an envoy on one hand, while still aiding the Demon King on the other.”
“...!”
The envoy’s complexion turned deathly pale.
“Y, Your Majesty...! The Berfht Kingdom would never...!”
The Emperor said nothing and rely looked at him. That silence pressed down on the envoy even more heavily.
He begged and begged. He could already imagine his kingdom being trampled under the Empire’s boots. He had to stop it. He absolutely had to stop it.
“...We have no intention of obstructing the hero party and the allied forces.”
Ti passed like eternity.
After a long while.
“I understand.”
The Emperor’s voice was heard.
At the warr tone, different from before, the envoy cautiously lifted his face.
“I understand your innocence and injustice.”
And so.
“I intend to give you an opportunity.”
“Th, thank you!”
“Duke Osrian. Since you uncovered this, you will speak directly.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Duke of Osrian, who had been standing quietly, stepped forward.
“Envoy of Berfht.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Recently, the Empire’s loyal warriors finally discovered the true location of the tower. However, do you know where that tower is?”
“I do not.”
“It is a place you would never imagine. Is that not why the entire continent failed to find the tower despite such effort?”
“Where in the world is it....”
“That place is.”
*
*
*
The king frowned.
“Where did you say?”
“In the sea.”
“Insane.”
They had shoved the tower into the sea?
The dwarves spewed curses. It was understandable why it could not be found. No, it was inevitable that it could not be found.
“And so.”
“And so?”
“The Emperor of the Empire demanded a symbol of our kingdom, and a divine relic. Wealth! He said he would watch our kingdom’s devotion for the greater cause, and our will to kill the Demon King!”
“...!”
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