[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
Chapter 148
The Demon Realm’s Colonial Observatory.
Observatory Chief Ederna was receiving an unexpected visitor.
A half-undead, with the upper body of a human and the lower body reduced to skeletal remains.
[Count Caius.]
“Marchioness Ederna. A week ago, my younger sister suffered a defeat in the Middle Realm.”
[Oh, is that so?]
“She is one of the strongest among the Helier bloodline. I believed there was no one in the Middle Realm capable of challenging her, yet this was unexpected.”
[And?]
“But she was defeated so quickly that she claims she didn’t even see her opponent…”
Caius spoke with an expression of disbelief.
Ederna responded briefly.
[Would you like to see the recording?]
“Yes. I would appreciate it.”
Observatory Chief Ederna.
She held the rank of a marquis due to her lineage as the child of the previous Demon King.
However, the demons considered her position not a result of her own rit, but a favor granted by the White Demon King.
And with good reason—after all, she was the offspring of the forr Demon King whom the White Demon King had once served.
‘Her magical power is fairly strong, but… if this is her limit, even I could handle her.’
As Caius observed Ederna in her massive serpent form, that was the conclusion he reached.
Compared to the other demon marquises, she seed far weaker.
Perhaps that was why, unlike the others, she had no ambition to expand her influence and instead remained holed up in this observatory, left to rot.
Even as he ridiculed her in his mind, Caius maintained a pleasant smile outwardly.
[Watch.]
Whirrrrr.
A screen materialized in the air.
As the stored footage from a week ago played, Caius widened his eyes and focused intently.
lvria was in the sky, unleashing the Six Demonic Path:Dragonfla technique.
A brilliant light flashed—once, twice—
And then…
The screen turned completely white.
Nothing was visible. Just a pure white void.
Seeing this, Caius spoke in a baffled tone.
“…What is this?”
[That’s the end of the recording.]
“No… Are you saying this is all that was observed? I find that impossible to believe.”
[It was at dawn.]
Caius grit his teeth.
No matter what, he had never expected there would be absolutely nothing to see.
“Is there any way to determine who she was fighting?”
[There isn’t.]
“Hm. Then what about the unidentified enemy who ambushed the vanguard before? Is there any data on that—”
[That information has already been discarded. It wasn’t important.]
Caius showed a hint of disappointnt but quickly accepted it.
Of course.
The Helier bloodline might care about this matter, but to the rest, it was insignificant.
From the Demon Realm’s perspective, even if such a surprise attack had occurred in Helier’s direct territory, it was nothing more than a trivial matter.
“Not knowing the enemy… In that case, we’ll just have to make an example of the most recent conflict zone by annihilating it.”
[Where?]
“The Kingdom of ier, in the Middle Realm.”
The vanguard sent to subjugate the Kingdom of ier had suffered continuous losses.
The culprit was either the Kingdom of ier itself or a force related to it.
‘They will pay the price for arrogantly bearing the na of ier. Let’s deal with this swiftly.’
Though he considered it a simple task, Caius decided to personally lead the expedition to the Kingdom of ier.
Even though lvria had used the Six Demonic Path technique, she had still been defeated. As the third-ranked among them, he had no choice but to step in.
If both Caius and lvria deployed together, the Kingdom of ier would be wiped out in no ti.
‘I'll capture the current king of ier and offer him to my father.’
Caius stroked his beard, a cold smile forming on his lips.
Ederna, watching him, spoke briefly.
[You can’t.]
“…What?”
[The Kingdom of ier. It has beco my direct territory.]
* * *
Kaylen, who had just returned after losing sight of lvria, looked up at the sky and spoke.
“Observer of the Demon Realm, can you speak now?”
[Yes.]
Ederna responded imdiately.
“You saw the battle just now.”
[I couldn’t observe it in detail. The power of the Holy Sword was too overwhelming. But just in case, I’ll modify the footage so that nothing is visible.]
“Modify it…?”
[I’m saying I’ll conceal your power.]
Ederna stepped forward to help as if it were her own problem.
Kaylen found it difficult to understand why a demon like her was assisting him this much.
‘Since she’s helping anyway, I should take full advantage of this.’
He carefully asked the Observer more questions.
“The Geysir Empire is Helier’s direct territory, correct?”
[That’s right.]
“Can any demon obtain direct territory in the Middle Realm?”
[No. Only high-ranking demons of count level or above can. Not that I particularly care for it.]
Building power in the Demon Realm was far more important than in the Middle Realm.
Other than the Helier bloodline, no other demons in the Demon Realm possessed direct territories in the Middle Realm.
“Hm. As long as Helier is backing Geysir, clashing with them would be suicide.”
[That’s right. Even I didn’t expect the Helier bloodline to be hiding such power. At this rate, your kingdom will be crushed.]
“But simply abandoning the kingdom’s na is no longer enough to avoid conflict… Is there any way to prevent a clash with them?”
[There is.]
At Kaylen’s question, Ederna answered calmly.
[If your kingdom becos my direct territory, that would solve the issue. You’ll have to change the kingdom’s na as well.]
No demon would risk internal conflict just to invade a single human kingdom.
Kaylen nodded without hesitation at Ederna’s offer to take them under her rule.
“If that’s all, then it’s settled. Take ier under your rule.”
[Are you willing to abandon the na of ier?]
“Yes. We can’t afford to clash with Geysir right now.”
Having witnessed the power of the Six Demonic Path, it was too soon to clash with the Helier bloodline.
At least, not until the Six Sword Paths was perfected once more.
For now, it was ti to retreat.
‘In this situation, I need a way to guarantee safety.’
This was a different scenario from when Geysir’s envoy had arrived.
Their vanguard and drakes had suffered multiple losses.
lvria had even seen Kaylen in person.
Given these circumstances, simply abandoning the na ier wasn’t likely to make Geysir back down.
‘I still don’t understand why the Observer has been helping for so long… but this thod is useful.’
If things proceeded this way, his kingdom would formally fall under the rule of a demon, the Observer.
But Kaylen had already predicted it—
The Observer wouldn’t interfere.
As a temporary shield against Geysir’s invasion, this was a solid hand to play.
‘Kaylen, huh. So, he isn’t Emperor Ernstine.’
anwhile, Ederna confird sothing she had been half-suspecting all along—
Kaylen was not Ernstine.
He had willingly abandoned the na of ier and requested that a demon take his country as a direct territory.
There was no way soone like that could be the hero, Ernstine.
[Why should I? Sounds like a hassle.]
Ederna imdiately rejected Kaylen’s proposal.
To make ier her direct territory, she would have to contact the Demon King’s Castle and make an official request.
‘A piece of colonial land like this is easy to acquire.’
The process wouldn’t take more than a few days.
But the thought of dealing with the Demon King himself was a hassle she wanted to avoid.
“Then why have you gone through all this trouble to help until now? You must have your own goal.”
[…Hmm.]
Ederna’s goal was simple.
She wanted Kaylen, wielder of the Holy Sword, to grow stronger and beco a headache for the current Demon King.
‘But if I interfere too much, it could cause problems later. Making his kingdom a direct territory is one thing…’
If she got too deeply involved and Kaylen truly beca a major threat to the Demon King, she might be held responsible for it.
However, granting him a direct territory didn’t carry much risk.
[Fine. But I won’t do it for free.]
“Then?”
[We’ll make a contract. Soday, you’ll grant one favor.]
Kaylen thought for a mont before giving a slight nod.
“I can agree to that.”
And so, the hero of his past life entered into a contract with a demon.
Three days later—
[It’s done. The Kingdom of ier is now my land.]
“That was fast. You managed it in just three days.”
[I don’t want to clash with Helier either, so change the country’s na as you see fit.]
“Understood.”
[And the ruling? That’s on you. Just keep running things the way you have been.]
Do whatever you want.
Ederna spoke in a tone dripping with indifference.
‘She really does hate troubleso things.’
She despised hassle even more than Kaylen had thought.
[Oh, and one more thing.]
Ederna spoke as if it were a trivial matter.
[Since it has beco a direct territory, dungeon portals won’t appear.]
“...What?!”
[The Demon King’s Castle can’t absorb mana from my domain.]
No dungeon portals would appear.
Had sothing that had plagued humanity for so long simply disappeared just like that?
“Then, does the Geysir Empire also not have dungeon portals?”
[They don’t.]
“That’s good.”
[Instead, they brainwash all humans and use them for human sacrifices.]
Well, that made sense.
They had been prattling on about dragons while being nothing more than food for drakes.
Kaylen thought for a mont before speaking.
“If the Kingdom of ier expands its territory, will dungeon portals not appear there either?”
[No, every ti that happens, you’d have to make a request to the Demon King’s Castle to prevent it.]
“So, the Geysir Empire makes that request every ti?”
[Yeah. They go through that hassle constantly.]
That kind of hassle—
Ederna was definitely not going to do it.
Kaylen gave up early on asking for that kind of favor.
‘Still, just preventing dungeon portals from appearing within the kingdom…
That alone could bring another major change to this world.’
Kaylen’s eyes glead.
In the grand conference hall of the divided Kingdom of ier—
With all the high-ranking officials gathered, Kaylen made a bombshell declaration.
“We are abandoning the na of our kingdom.”
“...What?”
“From now on, our kingdom will be called… the Kingdom of Starn.”
Starn.
The na of the noble house Kaylen Starn had belonged to when he was a baron.
After all the twists and turns, he had returned to his original family na.
“Your Majesty!”
“Is this because of the Geysir Empire’s envoy from last ti?”
“Yes. Their Dragon Knights dealt significant damage to the Royal Guard’s Combat Suits. If I hadn’t intervened, there would have been heavy casualties among the Royal Guard.”
“Even so, we cannot simply change the kingdom’s na so easily.”
“And even if we do change the na, there’s no guarantee they will withdraw. We might just look weak and still face an invasion.”
Their concerns were valid.
Demanding a na change was rely a pretext.
Common sense dictated that the enemy was intent on invading regardless.
“No, that won’t happen. I have resolved this in a favorable way.”
“Your Majesty…”
“And by abandoning our kingdom’s na, we have also gained sothing valuable in return.”
“A return?”
“From now on, dungeon portals will no longer appear within our kingdom’s territory.”
“...Is… is that even possible?”
The officials’ eyes widened.
The disappearance of dungeon portals—
Could such a thing even be real?
The fact that the Middle World was a colony of the Demon Realm was known only to a handful of humans...
So most of the officials present had no understanding of why dungeon portals had appeared in the first place.
‘Dungeon portals disappearing?’
‘It’s impossible to believe.’
‘But if what he says is true…’
‘The kingdom will undergo another major transformation.’
If they had only changed the kingdom’s na due to the Geysir Empire’s threats, the king’s authority would have been severely undermined.
But if the "compensation" Kaylen spoke of was real—
If dungeon portals truly never appeared again within this kingdom—
Then changing the kingdom’s na would be praised as a patriotic decision made for the nation’s survival.
“For the next month, monitor the dungeon portal activity.”
“Understood.”
“And as for the renaming of the kingdom, we will implent it imdiately. It’s only been a year since we last changed our na, so it shouldn’t take long, right?”
“...Yes.”
It had only been a year since the Kingdom of Bormian had beco the Kingdom of ier.
The first na change had been difficult, but doing it again wasn’t nearly as challenging.
Especially since this ti, they were exchanging the kingdom’s na for the disappearance of dungeon portals.
“Then, I will be away for a while. If anything happens, contact through the Dungeon Guild.”
“Your Majesty, may we ask why you are leaving?”
At Count Leoric’s question, Kaylen responded with a relaxed smile.
“To retrieve the S-Class Mana Suit—Stormwind.”
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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