Each One's Circumstances
Everything slowed.
Hillen Cargill's sword cut through the air.
The Demon King let out his last gasp.
Slice—
A head fell.
The Demon King's head.
It dropped.
"Ah."
Casey screamed.
The Demon King.
The Demon King…
was dead.
Casey, the lieutenant who had served Draxon for decades, could not believe it. She did not want to.
The eardrum-tearing screams of humans—
The life-filled blood spilled onto the ground—
None of it reached her.
"…My Lord."
Her trembling hand stretched out. Too far.
"Die!"
A human knight swung his sword. She caught it barehanded and crushed it. Tore off his head and hurled it.
"My Lord…"
She stepped forward. A magician stirred the wind.
Crunch—
Her muscles forcibly tore through the gusts. She crushed the magician's heart.
"…My Lord. My Lord. My Lord. My Lord. My Lord. My Lord. My Lord. My Lord. My Lord. My Lord."
Draxon grew closer.
Unbearable rage surged.
How dare they. Humans. Against whom.
How dare they.
In the battlefield where thousands clashed, she saw clearly the face of the one who killed the Demon King.
Hillen Cargill.
The bastard who killed the Demon King of Lust.
A Hero. A dog of a Hero.
Die. Kill. Kill him.
Bloodlust erupted. Ferocity exploded. Demonic energy burst outward.
She would—
absolutely—
kill him.
At that moment—
THUD—
A violent impact knocked her off balance. She rolled among the mixed corpses of monsters and humans.
Which insect—?!
"Get a hold of yourself, Casey."
"…Quail?"
Quail, wearing a bear pelt, pulled her up.
"We must escape."
"But My Lord—!"
"The Demon King is already gone."
"Then revenge—!"
"The tower is collapsing! At this rate you'll die a dog's death before you get any revenge!"
The tower belonged to the Demon King.
The Demon King's servants belonged to the tower.
Thus—
When the Demon King dies, the tower collapses.
When the tower collapses, all demons and monsters lose the tower's protection.
The power that nullified dimensional interference—
Now that both the Demon King and the tower had vanished, all surviving demons and monsters would once again confront the full brunt of that force that weakens beings from other dimensions.
"If we don't escape now, we won't escape at all."
While the tower still held its shape—
"Who said you could leave?"
They were Heroes drenched in monster blood.
"Who said a high-ranking demon could just walk away?"
"There are two high-ranking demons here!"
"Kill them! The Demon King is dead—they're weakened!"
"He's mine!"
Blades rained down.
"Go."
Quail blocked every attack aimed at Casey with his own body.
"I'm not weak enough to lose to the likes of you."
Quail roared.
That day, 3 high-ranking demons, 10 mid-ranking demons, 52 low-ranking demons, and 1,321 monsters died.
***
The tower collapsed.
No—disappeared.
The tower forged by demonic authority vanished the moment its core, the Demon King, ceased to exist.
Only the signs of a brutal battle remained: the corpses of monsters and demons, and the bodies of Heroes and humans.
"Hah… so this was your plan all along?"
Rozel Charnt looked down sorrowfully at the corpse of the fallen Demon King.
"Given the situation, I merely did my best."
"Sure you did."
Hillen Cargill answered politely. Rozel snorted, but said nothing more.
Heroes threw themselves into killing demons and Demon Kings—because by killing them and absorbing their power, they became stronger.
But competition was fierce, so there was an unwritten rule: whoever landed the killing blow claimed it, and the others did not stir up trouble afterward.
Moreover, Hillen Cargill and Berze had done their part perfectly.
Had the two failed to hold Draxon for even a moment, Rozel's flames would never have burned him.
Had he looked away and failed to behead him, they would still be fighting now. And perhaps the severed head lying on the ground would have belonged not to Draxon, but to Rozel Charnt.
'You can't exactly yell at the guy who fought so hard just because he already killed one Demon King and now wants another, right?'
You could if you wanted to. There were Heroes who picked fights on purpose and killed the other party.
But they had to bear the risks.
What Hero would follow a commander who interfered with someone else's kill and stole it for themselves?
"I'll take the corpse."
Hiding her disappointment, she stored Draxon's body in subspace.
From the start, all materials from the monsters and demons were to go to Rozel Charnt and the Kingdom of Acan, so Berze didn't care.
Simply knowing that Draxon was dead was enough for him—his purpose for coming here was fulfilled.
'If I died, would my tower have ended up like this too?'
Thinking of those damned Heroes desecrating his corpse filled him with rage.
As he indulged that stray thought, the cleanup finished.
The Acan Kingdom's forces collected anything worth money, gathered the corpses of monsters and demons into subspace pouches, and recovered their fallen allies.
Then they burned the battlefield.
"The casualties?"
"141 lightly wounded, 55 severely wounded, 271 dead."
Rozel Charnt's face twisted.
"…That's a heavy loss."
"The demons and monsters were stronger than expected. And the Demon King lived longer than we anticipated…"
Within a tower, demons and monsters held absolute advantage. And the Demon King's and demons' levels far exceeded their expectations.
She glanced sideways at Hillen.
"He's nothing like the Demon King of Lust. We may need to reconsider the overall level of the other Demon Kings."
"Yes."
But that did not change the fact that the Acan Kingdom had suffered a devastating loss.
"…It can't be helped. At least we secured everything we wanted."
"There is one more problem."
"…?"
"There's barely any money or valuables."
"That's impossible."
"I thought so too. I searched multiple times. Nothing."
"…The kingdom will throw a fit. Well, money is something Acan has more than enough of."
Rozel dismissed it. Wealth did not interest her much.
All she wanted was the Demon King's body. For a beast-type Demon King known to lack magical knowledge, that was all she could gain.
Then—
"There's a prison here!"
At the very end, as the underground prison vanished, the imprisoned princes and princesses appeared.
Two princes and two princesses.
Both princes were Ormus-born, one princess was the first princess of a tiny powerless nation. And the last one…
"…!"
What is she doing here?
Berze froze. Those who recognized the princess's face were struck with shock.
"Your Highness!"
"Good heavens, Princess!"
"Why is the Princess here?"
The knights and magicians of Acan all bowed at once.
"…Hmm."
Slowly, languidly, her bored crimson pupils swept across them. Her oil-matted violet hair fluttered in the wind.
"…The tower."
She tilted her head. Her long robe, dragging across the ground, drooped limply.
"The Demon King died?"
"Yes, Princess. We have defeated the Demon King!"
"And you are… who?"
"I am Hokel, commander of the Golden Lion Knights."
"Ah, I think I've heard that name…"
Mumbling something incomprehensible, the princess spotted Rozel Charnt and waved her hand.
"A familiar face…"
"Princess, why on earth are you here?"
Rozel let out a long sigh.
"To gather materials."
"To gather… materials?"
"The bodies of monsters…"
"You came all the way into the Demon King's territory to gather monster bodies?"
The princess nodded vacantly.
"The Beast Demon King didn't harm you?"
"He gave me monsters because I gave him money."
"You gave him money and he tossed you a few low-level monsters?"
'She's insane.'
Berze, who had been listening closely, couldn't help but feel impressed.
Entering alone to trade with a Demon King?
For chimera research?
Was she mad, or was something missing in her head?
'So Draxon took money from the princess to buy my demonic energy, huh.'
But what kind of idiot accepts that, and what kind of lunatic pays for it?
'And here he was lecturing me about not following the proper way.'
Of course, there was no rule saying a Demon King couldn't cooperate with humans.
Naturally. Because that never happened. No Demon King had ever cooperated with humans.
At most they'd enslave them as dark mages or dark knights.
But the Demon Kings of Arein were different.
'If Draxon was this flexible, then Jayson Cocmoond certainly is.'
Maybe even Ugar Velvek. The only one who wouldn't collude with humans was probably Reina Sordein.
"Does His Majesty know you're here?"
"I left a letter."
"You left a letter and came all the way here? Haah… you irresponsible princess."
Rozel pressed her fingers to her forehead.
"Let's return to the palace. Understood?"
"Not yet…"
"Not yet, my ass—what more are you planning to do with the Demon King dead? We've already collected all the monster corpses. Let's go."
"…A lot?"
"A ton."
"Okay."
The princess nodded.
"Wrap it up and withdraw! Stay quiet—we must pull out as discreetly as possible!"
"Yes!"
"Escort the Princess!"
"Yes!"
Rozel handed the princess off to the knights and began issuing orders.
The elite forces of Acan started withdrawing silently.
And so—
the Beast Demon King died.
And the Beast Tower collapsed.
***
Jetoson.
He had no surname. An orphan, he had been taken in by an old man who ran a tiny magic-item shop.
He began his life as a shop assistant and discovered his talent.
His mouth.
He was good at reading emotions and persuading others.
When the old man died and left him the shop, that talent blossomed.
He bought cheap junk and sold it as high-end goods. With a convincing effect and a fancy name, people bought them eagerly.
He earned a lot of money that way.
But then came his first problem.
"Just my luck."
Dwarf Princess Louise Verft.
Of all people he could have scammed, it had to be a princess.
He never imagined she'd realize he was scamming her.
Louise emptied his entire shop as compensation for the scam.
If only it ended there!
But of course, her vengeance did not.
"How dare you scam me? I'll make sure you never work in this trade again."
Using her royal authority, she spread malicious rumors (from his perspective) about Jetoson among the kingdom's nobles.
Word spread that he had scammed an important diplomatic figure. When he shouted his innocence, other victims of his scams stepped forward as if they were waiting for the chance.
"What kind of bastard is this?"
"Bringing shame to the kingdom."
"This trash calls himself a merchant?"
The city guard stormed his shop, shut it down, and stripped him of his merchant rights. His saved money was seized and absorbed into the royal treasury.
The only reason he didn't end up in prison was because Louise insisted that he shouldn't be fed and housed for free at the kingdom's expense.
'Damn it! It's not like I'm the only one who scams people!'
Time passed.
He tried to find work, but his reputation preceded him. No one would hire him.
Eventually, he had no choice but to leave the capital.
'Where should I go?'
Maybe to the Trafarta Union, the largest commercial hub?
Then he suddenly remembered the man who had thrown him a single gold coin.
'Now that I think about it, the Golden Moon Merchant Group is doing well…'
Hero Hillen Cargill was close to the group's successor, and used that connection to pull in a massive investment…
'Let's go.'
No way someone would throw a whole gold coin at him and then go back on their word.
Jetoson knocked on the door of the Golden Moon Merchant Group—
not knowing he was walking into the dragon's maw.
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