[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
Chapter 163
The furball received a report from Caius about the events in the Otherworld.
After listening to the story until the end, its fur bristled in all directions.
“Hmm. I see... Because of the White Demon King, you couldn't even properly protest to Marquis Ederna. You just suffered a disgrace instead.”
“That’s right... If not for him, we would have successfully pressured Marquis Ederna.”
“Hohoho. Do you really think the Demon King appeared there by coincidence?”
“Then...”
“During the resurrection ritual, I sensed it. A subtle gaze watching over us.”
“That gaze carried the presence of light mana. Given the state the Celestial Realm is in, the only one who could have been watching us... is none other than the White Demon King.”
“Why would he...?”
Fwoosh.
From the center of the furball, flas erupted.
In an instant, they burned away all of its fur and even consud the throne.
“He must be trying to keep him in check.”
Erging from the burnt fur, a woman appeared—her entire body composed of fire.
She resembled a spirit form created by a fire mana suit, but the power contained within her flas was incomparable to any ordinary mana suit.
A figure as beautiful as a perfect work of art.
Seeing her, Caius tensed up and cautiously asked.
That form was not sothing she revealed lightly.
“Are you referring to my father...?”
“Yes. If he attains complete perfection as a Dragon God, not even the White Demon King will be able to stand against him.”
“I see.”
Recalling the humiliation he suffered at the hands of the Demon King, Caius gritted his teeth.
If only his father, Ernstine, could be fully resurrected as a Dragon God, even that monstrous Demon King would have no choice but to submit.
While vowing to repay this disgrace in full, a question lingered in his mind.
“But if he truly wants to keep Father in check... I don’t understand why the Demon King is using such a roundabout thod. If he directly intervened, our Helier clan wouldn't be able to hold out for long.”
The White Demon King—the absolute ruler of the Otherworld.
If he wanted to interfere in Helier’s affairs, he could simply co and disrupt them directly.
Who could possibly stop him?
Yet he was using such an unnecessarily complicated approach.
As Caius voiced his doubts, the woman pondered for a mont before responding.
“What land did you say Marquis Ederna controls?”
“The Kingdom of Starn. In the past, they dared to use the na of ier, so we had to issue a warning... However—”
When Caius ntioned their retreat from lvria, her eyes glead with curiosity.
“lvria. It was defeated?”
“Yes. She lost disgracefully without even fully grasping who the enemy was.”
“Even after using the Six Demon Path?”
“Yes.”
“A descendant of ier who defeated the Six Demon Path...?”
She spoke with intrigue.
If soone had overco the Six Demon Path, there could only be one explanation.
“So, they must have used the Six Sword Path. That is the only way a human could triumph over the Six Demon Path.”
“The Six Sword Path...? But lvria never ntioned anything like that...”
“How could you trust lvria’s words completely? She still reeks of desperation to protect her own kind. Unlike .”
As one corner of the woman’s lips curled up, a shiver ran down Caius’s spine.
He had seen firsthand how the woman before him had treated her own kind.
‘A Queen… yet the one responsible for the massacre of the dwarves…’
Kaina, the Dwarf Queen, and the seventh wife of Ernstine.
That was the true na of the Marquis of Helier.
“For his sake, it wouldn’t be enough to offer up every elf as a sacrifice with joy. And yet, how many tis has lvria tried to protect them?”
As she spoke, Kaina placed her hand inside her stomach.
From within the flas that made up her body, a single sword erged.
Though it blazed fiercely, the fire was tinged with a crimson hue, reminiscent of blood.
She gazed upon it with a blissful smile.
“I offered up my fellow dwarves as sacrifices, reforging his flas. Even that was not enough.”
Fla Sword – Dragonfla.
A supre blade forged from the flesh and bones of ten thousand dwarves.
True to its na, Dragonfla, it possessed a fire mana unlike any ordinary sword.
“Caius. Take lvria, the Dragon Knights, and all of House Helier’s forces, and subjugate the eastern continent.”
“The eastern continent…?”
“Yes. They may have blocked the land routes, but the sea remains open. We will consu the East and gather more sacrifices. And then…”
Kaina stroked Dragonfla, her smile turning sinister.
“I will go to battle as well.”
“What about the resurrection ritual…?”
“I no longer need to remain here. You will take the northern coast, and I will invade from the southern coast. And if… one of them interferes again—”
Fwoosh.
The flas of Dragonfla turned black.
“Make sure they are eliminated.”
“Understood.”
“I would prefer if our opponent was a descendant of ier. Fufu…”
A descendant of ier who had defeated the Six Demon Path.
Marquis Kaina of Helier wanted to et him—without fail.
‘If I offer him as a sacrifice, he will beco even more perfect.’
She had no concern for the Six Sword Path.
The thought of offering the descendant of ier as a sacrifice alone filled her with pure happiness.
“Oh my, Prince. You’ve co again today?”
Violet greeted Royen, the younger brother of Kaylen, with a familiar gaze as he arrived at the royal castle.
‘He’s been visiting often lately.’
Royen, who usually never set foot in the palace, had been making daily visits to et Kaylen.
“Prince… That title feels too burdenso. Princess Violet, please just call by my na.”
“I stopped being a princess a long ti ago, you know.”
“Um… Is His Majesty in the castle right now?”
Royen asked cautiously, and Violet nodded.
“Yes. He returned today and is currently watching the knights train in the drill yard. It looks like he’ll be staying in the castle, so if you’d like, I can inform him right away that you’re here.”
Considering how Royen had been visiting daily, Violet assud there must be an urgent reason behind it.
Out of consideration, she offered to inform Kaylen imdiately—
“No, no. It’s nothing that urgent.”
“Is that so?”
Yet he had been coming every day?
Violet figured that, given his current ambiguous standing, Royen was simply being polite.
“Then… would it be alright if I watched the training in the drill yard for a bit?”
"Ah, so you'll wait until the training is over?"
"Yes."
"Then please do so. I'll guide you."
If it were an ordinary guest, a maid could handle it, but since he was the king’s younger brother, she couldn’t just leave it to anyone.
Violet walked with Royen toward the training grounds.
"There he is."
In the training grounds, dozens of knights were receiving instruction from Kaylen.
"Alkas, it looks like you'll beco a Sword Master soon."
"I-Is that so?"
"Yes. As expected, you have the talent I noticed. Think about what your own sword will be and continue improving."
"Understood!"
Listening to the conversation between Kaylen and Alkas, Violet turned to Royen.
"Training usually lasts about two hours. Will you wait?"
"Yes. This seems like an important mont. I'll watch the knights train."
"Alright. Then, I'll be going now."
"Yes, Princess Violet."
"There you go calling 'Princess' again."
With a small laugh, Violet left the training grounds.
The innocent look in Royen's eyes changed.
‘You're finally here, imposter.’
lvria, who had been lurking in the capital city of Alzas, had finally managed to plant a spirit of darkness inside Royen’s body after much difficulty.
Originally, she had planned to completely turn him into a demon like the Helier family.
‘But that would have been too risky.’
Elves had been checking Royen’s body frequently, making large modifications too dangerous.
So, she chose minimal control.
Royen would act as his usual self most of the ti, but whenever lvria wished, she could take control.
By implanting only a small fragnt of the spirit of darkness, she ensured it wouldn’t be detected.
‘The imposter’s training thods… they're exactly like Father's.’
Watching the training through Royen’s eyes, lvria was filled with complicated emotions.
Was he really an imposter?
The way he trained the knights was exactly the sa as the way Ernstein once had.
‘And this country too…’
Unlike the Ishir Empire, where humans were ranked by usefulness—dragon knights and dragon priests were kept, while the useless were turned into food—
The Kingdom of Starn was brimming with life.
It was nothing compared to the days when Ernstein ruled over the ier Empire,
But still, the sight of people smiling, chatting, and enjoying peace…
lvria felt her mind, once consud by Helier’s ways, starting to change little by little.
‘Maybe it's better if I stay away from here.’
She had infiltrated the capital to gather information about Kaylen, but instead of learning anything useful, she found herself changing.
And if she saw more traces of her real father in Kaylen…
She began to doubt whether she could continue acting as a loyal mber of the Helier family.
‘Yes, just like that training scene…’
As she listened to teachings and lectures that perfectly resembled her father’s, lvria was lost in thought.
Whoooosh.
A sudden gust of wind blew, carrying a single leaf toward Royen.
The green-glowing leaf landed on Royen’s forehead.
[My poor child… Co to … There is sothing I must tell you…]
A compassionate voice whispered in his ear before fading away.
‘This voice…’
lvria’s eyes widened.
It felt unfamiliar as if she were hearing it for the first ti, yet it was nostalgic.
The sorrow in that gentle voice touched her heart, stirring emotions even within her, despite the ti she had spent as a demon.
‘The voice ca from the leaf… Could it be the World Tree’s will?’
The World Tree, rooted in the capital Alzas.
Afraid of exposing her identity, she had only observed it from afar, never daring to get too close.
But perhaps because the training grounds were near the World Tree…
Even though she had implanted only a small fragnt of the spirit of darkness, she had been discovered without fail.
［lvria. Have you gathered any information?］
At that mont, a communication ca from Caius.
lvria managed both controlling Royen and responding to the call simultaneously.
She gave a brief answer to Caius’s question.
［Not enough yet.］
［Return for now. Mother has issued an order. We are to conquer the eastern continent. You and I will take the northern coastal route, while the Marquis will take the southern coast. We’ll split into two forces to proceed with the conquest.］
［What about the resurrection ritual?］
［It’s already progressing as planned. The Marquis says he doesn’t need to oversee it personally.］
Was this because of Kaylen?
Even the Helier Marquis, Kaina, was being sent to the battlefield.
It felt like they were revealing every move they had left.
［So return at once.］
［…Understood.］
The World Tree’s voice lingered in her mind for a mont.
‘If I make contact with the World Tree, my resolve will only waver further.’
Steeling herself, lvria prepared to leave the capital.
‘But before that.’
She had to erase the spirit of darkness from Royen.
Since she was departing, she needed to remove all traces of her involvent.
lvria decided to self-destruct the dark spirit implanted in Royen.
It wasn’t a true explosion—just the dispersal of dark mana until it vanished.
It wouldn’t harm the host, so no matter how developed Kaylen’s senses were, detecting anything unusual would be difficult.
‘He’ll probably just faint, but finding traces of will be near impossible.’
With that thought, lvria detonated the spirit of darkness.
“Your Highness, I thought you might be bored while waiting, so I brought so refreshnts.”
Violet returned, carrying a tea set and desserts.
And then—
“Huh?”
Whoooosh!
Dark mana spread subtly from Royen’s body.
Violet’s eyes widened.
‘A human… How unlucky.’
Of all tis, she had to approach just as the spirit of darkness self-destructed.
Being so close, she would feel the aftereffects, and her mana would be slightly disrupted.
“Royen…?”
Like a puppet with its strings cut, Royen’s body collapsed.
And as lvria saw Kaylen rushing toward them—
She hurriedly retreated to Geysir.
She had no idea that the consequences of her actions would lead to an unforeseen butterfly effect.
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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