Chapter 634

I returned to Lazark with Ellerys, not to the capital but to a quiet place nearby. "I don't know what to say in this situation..." Ellerys frowned as I explained that I had done my job well but still felt like I was being punished. Adelia likes the Duke, but he sees her as a burden, and her third brother likes her. "I feel like I'm being punished..." "Are you saying the Duke is being punished?" "No...not exactly..." It's me who feels like I'm being punished! I've written too many terrible dramas in my life, but this one is so bad that it has to be watched in the middle of a war! It's like I'm being punished, not the Duke! I couldn't say anything to the Duke who brought up the topic. "I don't know what to do about it." "We can only watch and see..." Yeah, it's not like I can do anything about it, but I was curious for no reason. I'll figure it out somehow! If we can all survive, then it's worth having a terrible drama, right? Even if we roll around in a pile of crap, we're still in the afterlife, so there must be terrible dramas. I'll protect the world no matter what, even if it feels like a dog's thought. I won't watch that drama anymore. "By the way, it seems like the kingdom has agreed to cooperate?" "Yeah...it turned out that way. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be." "It didn't go as planned?" "I thought the Duke would treat me like a thief, but he didn't. He even felt guilty towards me." "Oh..." It's a situation where I don't even know what's going on with myself. To be precise, other people can think of things that I can't because I'm not Baliaga. "After realizing that the Great War was a meaningless war, it seemed even more so." The first demon king, Baliaga, tried to create a new world through Akasha and move there. The Duke was the most shocked by the truth. If there had been no Great War, the demons would have disappeared quietly from this world. But humans invaded Darkland and slaughtered the demons. As a result, the demon king died, but the prince Baliaga survived, leading to the Gate Incident. If they had done nothing, everything would have been fine. The Duke seemed to think that humans had received their just punishment. Ellerys couldn't help but have a dark expression. "If we could go back to before the Great War, could we undo everything?" Can we make everything disappear, including all wars, fears, and invasions? If we know that the Great War leads to this, can we stop it by going back to the past? "I don't think so." I was negative. "Who would believe it if they said they were going to immigrate to this world and not touch it? Even if the demon king said it, no one would believe it." Akasha was already a very powerful artifact in itself. "For example, it's like trying to convince someone to feel safe while developing nuclear weapons for peaceful use. If you believe that, you're a fool from the start. Instead, the moment humanity learns of Akasha's existence, they will start a war to take it away or destroy it before it's completed. That's why Bali kept the existence of Akasha a secret. The Great War was ultimately an event that occurred when the fear and hatred towards each other reached a critical point. As long as the accumulated history of fear, distrust, and hatred remains, nothing will change even if we go back to the past. Ellerys, who represented one of the axes of fear, distrust, and hatred, could not have a good expression. Ellerys was an ancient demon king who was betrayed by her son and exiled with her horns cut off. Ellerys personally operated Akasha. Therefore, she could not help feeling the greatest sense of responsibility and guilt for all of this. Ellerys exchanged her life and the whole world for it. That's how much she loved me. I can't even imagine how much Ellerys cherished me. 'The time when everything ends is approaching.' '....' Even if the Gate Incident ends, the responsibility and guilt cannot disappear. But it is a clear fact that the time when everything ends is approaching. 'Let's think about everything after that.' 'Yes... Your Highness.' By the way, after talking about confusing things, the Duke said something like that. 'Do you remember what happened at the Tomb of the Lich?' 'Yes, I do.' Antirianus and Arkritch fought there. I was surprised to see the Duke there out of nowhere. 'Among those who saw it at that time, there was one very strange person.' 'Ah...' I knew who the Duke was talking about. Because I also saw that person for the first time that day. Someone I never imagined I would see. 'Do you know who it is?' 'It's probably Ellen's mother.' '...I thought she looked like her.' The Duke must have noticed Ellen after meeting Luna. So the Duke must have been surprised to see a girl who looked very similar to the strange person he met at the Tomb of the Lich. The Duke probably didn't see me fighting Luna at that time. He would have remembered disappearing suddenly. The Duke must have been impressed by Luna, too. 'I think Luna is more strange than a hero. If I had the time, I would have wanted to find her and ask for help...' It seemed like the Duke was thinking about asking for help from Luna, who was definitely not an ordinary person like I thought. 'Actually, I've already received help from her.' '...What?' 'I can't ask her for help directly because of various circumstances.' The Duke was surprised to hear that I had already gone to see Luna and received help. Although I couldn't tell him the details without Luna's permission, the Duke seemed to have understood that the person who was already strange was even more strange." Translation: It wasn't that long ago that I went to Lizeira, but it feels like a very distant memory. I briefly wondered how Luna and the people of Lizeira were doing. In the end, I received enough help from Lizeira and don't expect anything more. I explained to Ellerys about the conversation I had with the Duke regarding the Tomb of the Lich incident and the strange person resembling Ellen's mother. We talked about various things, but the result was simple. We secured three factions: the Divine Sect, Kernstatt, and the Sangtu An Kingdom. "A few words can swallow the world... no, we've already crossed halfway..." It was easy. "It's too scary right now." It felt like my blood was drying up because it was too easy. Swallowing is easy. The important thing is whether you can digest it. If you can't digest it, I'll die and the world will die too. Ellerys hugged me carefully. "Everything will be okay." "...Is that so?" "Yes. The Duke said so." Ellerys said, holding my head. "Your Majesty is the greatest and most perfect demon king in history." "...." "I think so too." Greatness and perfection. I, who was farthest from that, was suddenly closest to those words. As always, the cold body temperature of the vampire made my heart filled with fear, but I felt somewhat calm. Ellerys is the best, after all. "Thank you, Ancestor." "...Just call me Mom." "What?!" Ellerys pulled my ear. * * * The Sangtu An Kingdom may not be a large country in terms of scale, but it is significant as the backbone of the Empire's military power. In a situation where we don't know what will happen later, just being able to block the Titan, one of the Empire's main weapons, is of great value. If we can capture Adelia, we can make the Titan ours. Losing the right to operate the Titan by the Empire is actually a very simple situation. Is this also Berthus's intention? I don't know that yet. We convened a council of elders. Everyone except Sarkagar, who is stationed in the Allied Forces, and Liana, who is being treated. The five dukes. Olivia Lanche. Harriet. Charlotte. Ailey. And me. "Now that we have control over Kernstatt and the Kingdom, we can basically dissolve the Allied Forces at any time we want." It was the words of the Duke of Thursday. Yes, it is impossible to control at this point, but it is possible to dissolve it right now. We just need to remove Kernstatt, the Duke, and the Holy Knights from the Allied Forces. The Allied Forces will fall into panic. And there is no way for a panicked army to function properly. "But even if we dissolve the Allied Forces, the main focus of the war is still Immortal as long as they are intact. I think there will be almost no bleeding in the Empire's military power." As Galarsch said, the current situation is that there is no way to affect Immortal, which can be considered the Empire's ultimate power. "Of course, it means that we can dissolve the Allied Forces, not that we will do such a thing." Summary of previous part of chapter only for context: In this chapter, the protagonist reflects on his recent visit to Lizeira and wonders how Luna and the people there are doing. He then discusses with Ellerys about the Tomb of the Lich incident and the factions they have secured, including the Divine Sect, Kernstatt, and the Sangtu An Kingdom. They talk about the power of words and the importance of being able to digest what they have accomplished. Ellerys reassures the protagonist that everything will be okay and calls him the greatest and most perfect demon king in history. They then discuss the significance of the Sangtu An Kingdom as the backbone of the Empire's military power and the possibility of capturing Adelia to make the Titan theirs. The protagonist convenes a council of elders, including the five dukes, to discuss dissolving the Allied Forces and the current focus on Immortal as the Empire's ultimate power. They acknowledge that they cannot affect Immortal but can dissolve the Allied Forces if they choose to do so. The chapter ends with the understanding that they have the power to dissolve the Allied Forces but have not yet decided to do so.

Lucinil's words didn't make it possible for Ellerys to do so. It's just to confirm our influence. Control is impossible, but disintegration is possible. And the Allied Forces are the army of all humanity, where the remaining leaders of all humanity have decision-making power. Soon, it is no different from having half of humanity in our hands. If the war ends like this, we can already divide the continent. Antirianus smiled slyly. "It's not just the Allied Forces. We already have the major forces of the Empire's Huangdo Gradium, including the Divine Sect, the Masin Sect, and the Warrior Sect, under our control. It means that all those who believe in 'something,' regardless of their kind, are under our control." All humans related to faith are under our influence. Most of them don't even know that we are on top of their heads. "You are already ruling half of humanity beyond the Allied Forces. Great existence." Whether humans accept our rule or not, whether they tolerate it or not, I was already their ruler. "What about the Divine Sect?" "In Huangdo, they are teaching how to use the power of the Masin's divinity with selected individuals as the center. It's not easy to see the effect in a short time, but the important thing there is not the divine power but faith. The effect continues to come out." The Divine Sect's divinization is also proceeding faithfully. A few words. A few conversations. Can we rule the world like this? But laying the groundwork itself can only be easy. The important thing is the moment when conflicts and collisions are visualized. "If we are sure about how to deal with Immortal, we don't need to fight the Empire." It was Lucinil's words. There is still no need to use the coping method. But if we face the end of the Gate incident without knowing it, many difficult things will happen. "Yes, that coping method." Recently, new information arrived through Rowen. To be precise, the information was sent through Rowen by Berthus. "Is there a way to avoid it?" The most important thing now is not any other project but the response to Immortal, so my expression could only become serious. "It's not avoidance. Absolutely not." It can't be called avoidance. "Christina controls Immortal." Everyone already knows this information because I told them. Christina. Anna. Louis. Those three are the core. Haryet, who had already heard the story with me, didn't look very good. "If you touch them recklessly, Immortal becomes an unidentifiable slaughter weapon. Literally, it runs wild." There was silence in the room at those words. This is not avoidance. Only Antirianus faintly smiled and tilted his head. "If I'm right, it means that the controller disappears in the end." "...That's right." Yeah. It's not a coping method, but it's the most terrible thing that it's one way. A crazy dog owner is trying to kill me. If I kill the dog owner, the crazy dog won't come looking for me. Instead, it will bite and kill everyone it sees. "If you don't want to die, just kill the dog owner. We can do that anytime. If you don't want to face the fact that others will die because of it, then just do it. It's a very easy choice, but the moment we choose it, everything we've done so far to end the Gate Incident will become meaningless, and we will even become the ones who destroy humanity. Antirianus is laughing as if he's delighted to imagine me choosing the option of trampling on everything I've tried to do with my own hands. Sometimes I really want to kill that crazy old man. This is not about stopping Immortal from running wild. It is possible to prevent Immortal from killing me and my people. It's actually too easy. It's not that there is no answer. It's just that we can't choose that option. It's as if I know that I will never choose it. No, I might even want to choose it if I do. As always, you keep saying the same thing, but your life is the most precious, right? Are you planning to die while mocking me like that? My revenge is not for me to die at the hands of the Immortal they lead. Revenge will be completed the moment I kill Christina, Anna, and Louis, whom I love, while saving only their lives. That would be a worse abyss than death. "Here's what I'm saying." I look at everyone and speak. "The moment you touch Christina or those kids to save me, I'll cut the throat of the bastard who did it and die too." The Gate Incident happened to save me. I can't let that happen again. It wasn't a criticism of Ellerys, but I couldn't help but bite my lips as I watched Ellerys bow his head. It was something I had to say. "Great being, why don't we bring those kids and mess with their brains? It's something we can do as long as we don't kill them, right? Or there could be a method of torture." "We should be careful about acting rashly in a situation where we don't know the extent of the 'touching' range. I couldn't have imagined that much." Antirianus laughed as if he liked my cautious attitude. Really. What is that old man? The more I suffer, the happier he seems. But he doesn't do anything sneaky, and he just does what he's told. "Don't do anything. We'll deal with it after the Gate Incident is over." "There's no way to know for sure if Antirianus will cause trouble with the dog owner, but there's a possibility of someone else trying to protect me. For example, Sarkagar who isn't here and the new crazy person, Rowen. We need to talk to them too. 'Right, there's no absolute magic in the world. Just like there's no absolute barrier magic or sealing magic, there's a way to get around it. We just haven't found it yet,' said Harryott, as if there were more than one path to take. Galarsch nodded in agreement, but his expression wasn't as hopeful as Harryott's. If we have time, we can find another way, but I don't think we have enough time. Time always holds us back. There may be a way to neutralize Immortal in a way other than force, but will there be no conflict with Immortal until we find that way? I don't think so. There will be a way, but it takes time to find it. Is that time enough? Harryott suddenly raised his head as if he had an idea. 'Right. Immortal is ultimately a golem.' 'If you think about it, that's true.' 'If it's Dad... maybe he knows something?' Immortal is a golem, and the expert on golems is the Duke of Life and Death. 'I don't know right now, but Dad might know more.' The situation has changed from before. Now we can get the cooperation of the Duke of Life and Death, as well as the Kingdom of Life and Death. So, we can bet on the possibility of the Duke of Life and Death, who is proficient in the same type of magic, to find a way. Yes, the Duke of Life and Death. 'Right, there's something I want to ask the Duke of Life and Death since we're on the subject.' A problem that couldn't be decided alone. 'Can I show the Duke of Life and Death this place?' At that, Harryott jumped up in surprise."