Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 570

It was unlikely that the Empire would have a vast amount of information on dark magic, especially since it had never conducted any research on it before. If they had a large-scale dark magic project underway, they had to have gained that knowledge from somewhere.

The Black Order had suffered significant losses across the continent as they responded to the Gate Incident in their own way. They had also invested most of their remaining forces into killing the Demon King. However, even their Master-class swordsmen and the previous leader of the Black Order, a Master-class grand mage, had not been able to stand against the Demon King. Once the survivors realized that there was no hope, they fled.

After that significant blow, the Black Order could no longer intervene militarily. However, even if their combat power had been depleted, they still retained their vast trove of knowledge. It was possible that the remnants of the Black Order were collaborating with the Empire and providing them with knowledge, and the Empire was in no position to refuse such forbidden knowledge.

The Senate meeting hadn’t succeeded in reaching a decisive conclusion about what the Empire was doing, and only resulted in a set of completely different suspicions being mooted. However, this suspicion had to be considered significant.

“The Black Order actually tried to kill His Highness. If this is true, then it can’t be anything good, whatever the Empire’s intentions are,” Eleris said.

Harriet nodded in agreement.

Both the Empire and Reinhart shared the idea that anything that could help in the war was good. Reinhart would not feel the need to intervene if he knew the knowledge of the Black Order could help end the war.

Lruien, who had remained silent thus far, crossed her arms and looked out the window.

“Whatever it is, the Empire isn’t just conducting research—they’re carrying out a deliberate operation with a clear goal, and it’s highly likely that the foundation of this project is built on the knowledge of the Black Order.

“The Black Order is an ancient magical society. The forbidden knowledge they possess far surpasses that of any other magical organization in the world. Not even the Empire, the Mage Guild, or the Magic Tower come close to matching them. They are practically the successors to the now-vanished Cantus Magna. No other group holds as much material on forbidden magic as they do.”

She paused, then continued, “The question is, what exactly is the Empire trying to accomplish with such knowledge? It’s clear now that it’s not just about creating Death Knights. Before we go any further, there’s something we need to confirm.”

She looked over at Harriet. “You said the bodies had been removed from the Imperial Mausoleum and the Hall of Heroes, and that the corpses of the fallen in the national cemetery had been swapped. Is that correct, Secretary?”

“Yes,” Harriet replied with a nod.

“Were all the bodies in the Hall of Heroes gone?”

Harriet shook her head. “We did not open up all the sarcophagi, so we can’t be certain of that. But all the ones we did open were empty.”

“Hmm, I see,” Lruien said as she retreated back into deep thought.

Harriet tilted her head in curiosity.

“Is that important?” she asked.

“Yes, certainly.”

“Why?”

Lruien shrugged. “I don’t know exactly who is entombed in the Hall of Heroes, but not all of them would have been heroes famed for their physical prowess..”

The ones who had achieved outstanding things and left their mark on history were not just Master-class warriors.

“Let me be more specific,” Lruien said. “Among the hero party, was the sarcophagus of the mage Mulleron also empty?”

Harriet’s eyes widened.

The Hall of Heroes... Charlotte had said that Ragan Artorius’s body had not been placed within the mausoleum, but that meant the other four sarcophagi would have had human remains inside them.

Harriet distinctly remembered opening the sarcophagi of all five heroes that day.

“Yes, it was definitely... empty.”

Olivia Lanche had said that the strength of the original human was important when attempting to raise it as a Death Knight.

In fact, Olivia had clearly stated, rather maliciously, that Harriet’s corpse would not be suitable to raise as a Death Knight. Therefore, it was clear that the Empire was doing something entirely different from what Olivia had set out to do.

“That suggests a rather... frightening possibility,” Lruien continued.

The imperial family had to have a good idea of what could be done before retrieving the remains.

“Could these resurrected corpses somehow be able to use magic?”

“Is such a thing... possible?” Harriet asked, her face going pale.

“It’s not unusual for undead to use magic,” Antirianus said, gesturing to himself and looking around.

The Vampire Lords present were all undead, after all.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing, nor thought it possible... But could they create a lich from a corpse?”

If reanimating a dead warrior as a Death Knight was possible, then, reanimating a dead mage as a lich under one’s command wasn’t entirely out of the question. Such magic had not been practiced in the world before, but it was impossible to say that it could not be created and perfected.

“If the Empire is able to resurrect all these heroes and mages from human history and deploy them in war, then this current war is no longer the issue,” Lucinil said, looking grim. “With this addition, the Empire would possess a military strength greater than at any other time in human history.”

If this assumption were true, then despite humanity’s current weakness, the moment this project was completed, the Empire would be stronger than ever.

***

No concrete conclusions were reached in the Senate meeting. It only served to multiply the existing suspicions.

Until this moment, nobody had focused on whose remains had disappeared.

There was a possibility that the Empire was going beyond raising Death Knights and refining the knowledge of raising liches from corpses.

Although only Mulleron’s remains had been clearly identified as missing, that alone suggested that not the remains of heroic grand mages not just in the Hall of Heroes but in mausoleums like the Hall of Wisdom might have been taken away as well.

If they were all resurrected as liches and were able to use magic at the same level as when they had been alive, the Empire would possess the strongest army in history.

If the Empire’s project was already well underway as the Senate suspected, then the Empire would become an almost inviolable power once the project was completed.

“If the war ends and the Empire dismantles or destroys that army, that would be one thing,” Eleris said quietly. “But if they don’t...”

Eleris’s fearful prediction sent chills down Harriet’s spine. “We can’t be sure that the army would be directed against us,” she said.

Then again, there was no reason for them to do so. Why would the Empire willingly relinquish such powerful strength?

Although the Empire was willingly accepting help from them at the moment, both parties knew that this cooperation, whether voluntary or forced, would not last forever.

Whatever the Empire is doing, their project needs to be destroyed before it can be completed,” said Galarsh.

Ending the war against the monsters was a common goal, shared by Edina and the Empire. But everyone knew that achieving that goal would not bring peace to the world.

What the Empire was preparing would help end the war, but what would happen after that was the real problem.

Ultimately, though, thinking about that was foolish, and that sort of moral judgment went beyond the bounds of this current conflict.

The fear of what might happen after this war was brought to an end was making them consider destroying the means that could actually bring about its end.

If they left the Empire’s project alone, the war might end more easily. However, after the end of that war, the means that easily resolved the war might also destroy Edina.

Was it right to intervene, perhaps foolishly?

The Great War had been triggered by humanity’s fear of demons.

The Gate Incident had also arisen from mutual fear and hatred.

This time, once again, everyone was being tested.

Could they stand by and watch as the other side gained immense power? Or was it better to disrupt that plan?

If both sides trusted each other, none of these events, starting from the Great War, would have occurred. Everyone knew that all these events steamed from distrust.

Just as the Empire couldn’t trust the Dark Land, the Dark Land couldn’t trust the Empire either.

***

I’ve always thought that one should rest when it’s their time to rest.

Seeing Ellen and Heinrich made me think that, but in reality, I was no different, since I too did not know how to rest.

The rest I had in Rijaiera had honestly been involuntary.

In the end, I was also constantly gathering information.

It seemed Heinrich hadn’t returned to rest either, since he wanted to tour the capital as soon as he returned.

When I thought about it, the most dangerous place in the world might not be the Allied encampment, where combat troops were always on standby, but the imperial capital, Gradium.

Security within the capital, as well as on the outskirts, had to be at its worst. In that sense, it seemed like ensuring the safety of this area during winter might actually be a more necessary task.

Both Ellen and Heinrich planned to divide the capital—including the outskirts—into zones, and go on patrol.

Ellen would patrol from the northern point to the west, and Heinrich would patrol from the southern point to the east. It was simple and straightforward.

“Be careful of those resistant to fire.”

“I will.”

Ellen and Heinrich exchanged brief words at the Temple’s gate before parting ways.

This wasn’t something they had agreed to with the city guards, but a voluntary mission.

They would not act as law enforcement within the refugee zones, but would patrol the outskirts and eliminate any dangerous monster groups before returning.

“Um...”

Ellen quietly looked down at me. I had followed her outside the Temple.

She was wearing a robe, perhaps because she was worried she might be recognized.

They were going to take down any monsters that were near the capital, and so there was likely no powerful monster that was resistant to fire that could threaten Heinrich.

And even if there were, Heinrich could still generate significant physical force derived from his manipulation of fire, including shockwaves.

Ellen seemed to be contemplating whether to take me along.

Eventually, she picked me up.

“Let’s go.”

Meow.

Just as Heinrich could wield fire, Ellen could also use Lapelt’s flames to annihilate monsters from a distance.

Ellen held me and headed north of the capital, as though out for a gentle stroll.

***

Several days had passed since Ludwig had been assigned to the 17th Refugee Zone Guards located in the southwest of the capital.

Ludwig couldn’t be regarded as just a simple guard.

In fact, he wasn’t even an official member of the guard yet, and had been told he could leave whenever he wanted.

And it wasn’t because he’d lost an arm.

He was a graduate of Temple’s Royal Class and a superhuman far surpassing any ordinary guard, as well as a seasoned veteran of the Allied Forces.

Now that he had been reassigned away from the front lines, he had taken it upon himself to help maintain security in the capital. His strength alone warranted respect, but it was more than that. The regular guards, and even the captain of the guards, treated him with a deference that went beyond age or rank.

Ludwig was highly regarded for his determination to do something even in his current state, rather than letting himself be coddled like some nepo baby.

Therefore, while Ludwig wanted to be treated as a simple guard, everyone treated him with utmost respect, regardless of his temporary rank, and the captain of the 17th Guards was no exception.

At the moment, Ludwig was facing that captain in the headquarters, one of the few places in the refugee district with a roof still intact. The captain was wearing a troubled expression.

“You’re asking to join the subjugation team?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Umm...”

The captain of the 17th Guards Division couldn’t hide the unease on his face.

Ludwig had only been stationed there for a few days, yet he was already asking to be reassigned, and to the subjugation team, no less.

That unit was tasked with patrolling the outskirts of the capital and engaging monsters head-on, and Ludwig was openly expressing his desire to the guard captain.

The subjugation team wasn’t under the jurisdiction of the 17th Guards Division, and was part of an entirely different command structure. Ludwig was essentially requesting a transfer to a different unit.

“We also need your help here, Sir Ludwig. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, I’m aware of that.”

“I thought you understood that the work here isn’t as light as it seems.”

It was true that Ludwig wanted to fight, and it was also true that the work the guards were doing wasn’t closely related to fighting monsters.

“It’s not that I’m ignoring the work here...”

Ludwig wasn’t making this request just because he wanted to fight monsters. It was true that all the guard units, especially those in the refugee zones, were severely understaffed, and Ludwig was indeed needed. Ludwig wasn’t ignoring the fact that there was work to be done. However...

“The work here is... too difficult for me.”

The guard captain remained silent.

Crime... In this place, the guards frequently had to dispense judgment and mete out justice when it came to crimes committed by the human inhabitants.

The whole place could be considered lawless, and guards were often attacked.

Over the past few days, Ludwig had witnessed several instances in which the guards had taken it upon themselves to summarily execute those they deemed to be criminals.

Due to the utter lack of established security, each individual guard was granted more autonomy than usual.

Ludwig found it difficult to do what was required of him in these sudden and urgent situations.

Was his judgment correct? Ludwig couldn’t be sure of that.

When fighting against monsters, such judgment wasn’t necessary.

But when it came to refugees who committed crimes, things weren’t so simple.

Were they truly to blame? And even if they were, couldn’t they be forgiven, knowing they had no other choice?

Ludwig was deeply troubled by the thought that his actions might cause the death of someone innocent—or that, through a single misjudgment, he might imprison someone who did not deserve it.

The work wasn’t worthless; it was just too difficult for him.

Ludwig knew he wasn’t particularly clever. He could make a wrong call, and that uncertainty was what made things so hard.

That’s why he preferred the straightforward nature of the work that the subjugation team was in charge of. Fighting monsters was physically demanding, but it did not burden his mind in the same way.

“Sir Ludwig, that’s just not possible. You know that the higher-ups won’t accept such a request from you.”

Ludwig’s position had been specifically arranged by the emperor. Therefore, even if he wanted to take on dangerous missions, he couldn’t, because the entire point of this assignment was to keep him away from danger.

Ludwig wasn’t treated like a typical nepo baby. But in reality, he was an involuntary nepo baby—being granted his position through the favor of the emperor, and not by his own choice.

That was why he couldn’t simply walk away from this role.

If he kept rejecting the emperor’s goodwill, he might be confined to the Temple altogether and might not even be allowed to do this much.

He took a deep breath. “I understand.”

In the end, Ludwig had no choice but to remain where he was and rely on his uncertain judgment.