Chapter 629

Nighttime.

-Thunk

The wooden cup hits the table, making a dull sound.

-Thunk

Once again.

-Thunk, Thunk

And again twice.

-Thunk

The owner of the cup was tapping the wooden cup on the table.

Across from her was Rowen, the commander of the Holy Order, who had come secretly wearing a hooded robe.

And the owner of the mansion.

Louise von Schwarzkopf was just tapping the wooden cup on the table.

It was an incomprehensible action.

Although she had let the commander of the Holy Order in when he suddenly came in the middle of the night, Louise was only doing incomprehensible actions.

"Shall I come back later?"

If you don't want to talk, I'll come back when you're ready. Rowen smiled at Louise.

Louise just pushed the cup in front of her instead of answering.

"…?"

When Louise suddenly pushed the cup towards herself, Rowen could only look bewildered.

"Are you offering this to me?"

"Whatever you like."

Louise looked at the cup she had pushed in front of her and saw that it contained some kind of liquid.

It was a milky opaque liquid.

Rowen drank the cup in one gulp.

Louise watched silently as Rowen emptied the cup and covered his mouth, coughing a few times.

"…Even if it's poison, it doesn't matter. It's better than this. What is this?"

Wretch, wretch.

She pretended to retch.

"It's so thick, sour, and sticky. It's really unpleasant... What is this?"

Rowen, who didn't wrinkle his face even at the worst of things, looked uneasy.

"Is this alcohol?"

Conclusion.

It was a strange liquid that couldn't be called alcohol, even though it was an unknown liquid.

Louise nodded silently.

"The priests of the Church have rules about abstaining from alcohol."

It's malicious.

Not only the taste of alcohol itself, but also the fact that he offered alcohol.

"There are also rules about not killing."

"That's true."

Rowen nodded casually.

It's strange that an inquisitor who tortured and killed countless people would even mention rules.

"There must be rules about chastity."

"That's surprisingly well-kept."

Louise stared blankly at the face of the nonchalant commander of the Holy Order.

"By the way, do you enjoy drinking this kind of alcohol? There are various local traditional drinks, so if my reaction earlier was rude, I apologize first."

There must be a village somewhere that drinks this kind of nasty alcohol in this wide world. Therefore, Rowen apologized first for his frown at the fact that the princess of Kerunstadt was drinking this kind of nasty alcohol alone in the mansion.

But Louise shook her head.

"That's not true. I don't know anything about this kind of nasty traditional drink." "Okay, no."

"May I ask why you drink this nasty alcohol?"

Rowen couldn't understand why Louise was drinking such a strange drink that wasn't even traditional alcohol.

"This is secret alcohol."

"Oh... really?"

"Yes, it was confiscated from soldiers who brewed it."

That's why he was just staring at the liquid in the cup instead of emptying it.

"It's a terrible thing. They squeeze tears of blood from people to feed the army, and someone is making alcohol with that blood. It's an effort, I suppose..."

Louise bites her lip.

"Isn't it pitiful...?"

Even though the alcohol only tastes disgustingly bitter, she still brewed and drank it.

"What do you think should be done with the soldiers who brewed secret alcohol?"

Louise looks at Rowen quietly.

"They should be killed."

"Why should they be killed?"

"Because food is precious."

"Why is food precious?"

"Without it, people starve to death."

"Is it necessary to kill those who have caused harm to materials related to life and death?"

"Yes?"

Louise just stares at Rowen silently.

Looking at the moon, you have to look at the moon.

Don't point your finger at the tree.

But that's impossible and meaningless.

Anyone can make a sound with their mouth.

So why is the moon that anyone can point to important?

Who points to it is important, the moon itself has no meaning.

"Do you want to save them?"

At Rowen's natural question, Louise shakes her head.

"What are you talking about? They're already dead."

"...But why did you ask?"

Since the conclusion had already been reached and the execution had been carried out, the question and answer were meaningless from the beginning.

There were soldiers who brewed secret alcohol.

Soldiers who made it somehow.

Soldiers who secretly shared it and drank it.

Louise ordered them to be killed.

And she confiscated all the secret alcohol they had brewed and tried a sip.

It was just a disgustingly bitter and unpleasant white liquid.

And they died trying to make this.

"Those who stole such a small amount of food had their heads chopped off...."

Louise looks at Rowen.

"And the woman who stole countless lives and even stole from the Church is now the commander of the Holy Order, wandering around here and there...."

"And."

"To that wicked thief."

"Not even a sword, not even a bowl of cold water can be added."

The small thieves were punished.

No, only the small thieves were punished.

In the end, Louise wanted to bite her tongue.

At the point where I killed my brothers with my own hands, there was no qualification to blame anyone. In the end, what's the difference between cursing at a mirror in front of you and anything else? Louise felt miserable even without saying anything. With self-loathing, sorrow, and resentment, Louise von Schwarzkopf stared at the commander of the Holy Order with blurry eyes. "Enough. Just tell me what you need." Seeing Louise taking a conversation stance, Rowen whispered quietly in the moonshine-filled barracks, where the sour smell of moonshine spread. "The Demon King has chosen you." "...." Louise fell silent. She had expected to face something like this. The choice, has the Demon King become a being who can say such things now? No, it must be the words chosen by the messenger, telling her to be grateful, to be happy, with a bright expression on the face of this Demon King worshipper. Louise didn't say anything for a very long time. How much time had passed? Louise opened the nearby barrel and poured a bowl of moonshine. And she drank it. As if she couldn't bear it without drinking it. As if she were drinking poison. Moonshine. The liquid that had now been stripped of its name by something else. Not toxic alcohol, but monstrous alcohol. As she drank a bowl of such moonshine, she murmured quietly with a transparent eye stealing her lips. "Terrible...taste." How could alcohol made of blood and tears be sweet? * * * "Even if we just cross Kerunstadt, it's like more than half of the Allied forces are coming over." I could only tilt my head at Charlotte's words. "...Isn't it not even half?" "Do you think I don't know the actual scale? Yeah, the actual strength of the Allied forces in Kerunstadt is less than half, and strictly speaking, it's not even one-fifth." "So." Charlotte and I were sitting alone in the Elder Council room of Lazark, talking. "But look, if some local lord with a force of a thousand or so from the Empire stands on our side. What happens the moment that person says, 'I'm on the Demon King's side from now on'?" "....Unless you want to die, you won't do such a thing. But if you do, wouldn't it be nice to die gracefully?" "They'll be beheaded right away, won't they?" "Yeah, that's right." If people with small scale and power suddenly declare their support for the Demon King, it is obvious that they will be choked to death at that moment. Are you talking about the Great Horse that doesn't die? "If a lord of a small country does such a thing, people will just think he's crazy and move on, but if a country like Kerunstadt makes such a decision, people will naturally think. Why did a country like Kerunstadt go crazy and support the Demon King at this timing? Will they think the same thing or not?" "...They will, won't they?" When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If a country like Kerunstadt suddenly makes such a decision, fierce criticism will follow, but it will also be accompanied by tremendous shock. Why did a country like Kerunstadt. What's missing? "But Kerunstadt is the only one who will step forward? We also have the Divine Faith." "So let's say the Holy Order also declares their support for the Demon King. One of the largest countries, Kerunstadt, excluding the Empire, and the Holy Order, a power that transcends nations, both openly supporting the Demon King would make people feel that something serious is happening. 'Everyone has to choose whether to support the Empire or the Demon King.' Supporting the Demon King is a crazy thing to do in the first place, but the moment these two giant powers publicly support it, humans will have to seriously consider whether to support the Demon King or not. Of course, it will be the leaders and executives of the powers who will do the thinking, not the majority of humanity. But if you want to survive, you have to do whatever it takes. There will be powers that say they cannot stand on the side of the enemy even if they engage in a desperate struggle, and there will be powers that claim to stand on my side, saying that survival is the absolute priority. The victory of the Demon King or the Empire. Those who want to survive must start predicting. So Charlotte's statement that more than half will come over is not wrong. The moment the two giant powers stand on my side, the leaders will start betting with tremendous confusion. Actually, Kerunstadt is not half, but more than half of the shaken and rearranged forces will be filled on my side. 'It's ridiculous. Until recently, everyone was relieved that they couldn't kill me, but now this is possible.' 'How common is it to serve a king you hate so much that you want to kill him just because he's a king?' '...If you think about it that way, it doesn't seem that strange.' As much as there will be assumptions that there will be those who want to fight me even if they die, there will also be those who will crawl under the Demon King to survive. It is unknown whether the former will be the majority or the latter will be the majority, but it is certain that the latter will not be a small number. 'Anyway, all these assumptions must be based on the premise that Louise von Schwarzkopf supports me...' 'That's right.' Louise von Schwarzkopf. Charlotte was the one who suggested that we should first bring her in for the future. It's a ridiculous thing. If I had just sat still, Louise von Schwarzkopf would have died in Berthus's hands, accused of the Heinrich assassination case. In conclusion, Louise and Heinrich survived. That's why there is a possibility that Louise will stand on my side. In conclusion, even with the Holy Order and the Five Great Gods, it is possible to shake the Allied forces, but it will be impossible to secure a significant force without incorporating Louise von Schwarzkopf. You have to establish the premise first before you can even draw a picture. I left it to Rowen, but until I hear a definite answer, I don't know what will happen. 'Last year, I wouldn't have known, but now the situation is very different, and Louise has learned quite a bit. What the Empire is doing. And that I have control over the Holy Order. I still don't know if she knows about the Gate incident or not." "Louise knows that it's not strange for her to be on my side at this timing. There's no reason for her to fight against me. And she knows that the situation is gradually shifting towards me. But in fact, whether Louise knows those trivial facts and truths or not is not important. Above all, she knows that she has to be on my side to survive. 'Louise von Schwarzkopf will stand on our side. Definitely.' Louise knows what the Emperor is thinking. With just that, she will stand on my side. She already knows who will win the fight. Because it wasn't a fight in the first place, she knows. * * * Good and evil depend on who records it. Therefore, those who hold the leadership of history could always define something as good or evil. So the meaning of good and evil itself disappeared, and ultimately, it was only important who could hold the leadership called the pen. So who was the real good in the end? So who was the real evil in the end? Talking about it will only fill the nights spent awake. Those who live and hold the pen will become the ones who hold justice and goodness. Therefore, only surviving is justice and soon good. The losers will be recorded as evil. Not because they were evil, but because they lost. '....' Louise von Schwarzkopf did not ponder for a long time in silence. The conclusion has been reached, and the decision has been made. She has to think about whether she can handle it or not. The situation has become so complicated that Louise von Schwarzkopf has seen and known things that she should never have seen or known in an unexpected place. Everything will become the Demon King's. Louise knows that. Kerunstadt and the Holy Order. By the time the Gate incident is completely resolved, more than half of the Allied Forces will have pledged allegiance to the Demon King. At the forefront is the commander of the Holy Knights, Rowen. It is always her job to execute order as evil, trample on doctrine, and maintain the order of the Order by establishing order with blood and lies. Collusion, rivalry, conspiracy, torture, brainwashing. Only despicable and dirty things are her job. Rowen looks at the princess of Kerunstadt, who is silently watching. Since King Constantine was angry, her decision was the same as Kerunstadt's decision. After a moment of silence, Louise spoke. 'I have one condition.' 'Condition?' 'If that is accepted, I will stand on your side.' Louise did not simply decide to switch sides. 'I can convey it to them. What is the condition?' 'You don't have to ask for the Demon King's permission. It's up to you to agree.' '...Do I have the power to decide?' 'Of course.' Louise's condition was simple. 'The condition is your life.'" "...I can't give you everything, but did you hate me that much?"

"I do hate you, and I do think it would be better if you were dead. But that's a completely different issue."

"How is it different?"

Louise grinned as she sipped her moonshine, seeming to enjoy Rowen's bewildered expression.

"Is the Demon King planning to oppress or rule?"

"We won't know the actual result until it happens, but I think he's trying to do the latter."

"Then you'll need your life even more."

"....?"

At Rowen's attitude that seemed impossible to understand, Louise began to chuckle.

"Isn't that obvious?"

It was a reckless laugh.

"Can a crazy woman who led riots and instigated massacres and has killed countless people as an inquisitor be of any help to the Demon King's rule? And with so many people knowing that fact, do you think the commander's secret will be kept forever?"

"....Of course not."

"Even if she can be helpful now, the last loyalty the commander can offer will be to climb the judgment stand of punishment. No, that's the only way to complete the commander's loyalty."

Rowen's expression became grim at those words.

Rowen's role is only for now.

Regardless of her actual personality, she has done too much until now.

Even if it's because of the sins she's committed so far, she must be judged when the rule begins.

When peace begins, her very existence becomes a burden.

That's why Rowen must die when the world she desires comes.

Her death is what the Demon King needs, not Louise.

So Louise offers Rowen's death as a condition, even though she has personal motives unrelated to it.

If Rowen doesn't die, it will actually make the Demon King's power more uncertain in the future, and Louise uses that as leverage against Rowen and the Demon King.

"Did you really think you could live in the sun when a creature of the shadows like you met a crisis and had to make a decision? That's impossible."

Louise looks at her with a bitter smile, as if she can't stand it.

Louise von Schwarzkopf is a princess of Kernenstadt.

She is the first princess of the First Empire and the successor of the second largest country in the world.

There is no way she will lose a deal without getting anything in return.

Tricks, conspiracies, and schemes are naturally more familiar to Louise.

"New commander. Even if the situation changes and your position changes, will your principles change?"

No matter how much she is now a messenger of the Demon King.

No matter how strong her power is now.

The principles won't change.

Louise is a princess and successor of a great country.

She had to live in the shadows.

Just as cheap moonshine can only be disgusting liquor made from cheap ingredients, cheap things are cheap.

"How can moss grow in the sun?" "If a plant that thrives in shade were to appear in the sun, it would wither and die."