Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 619

A gentle breeze blew across the meadow, the green grass rustling and rippling in its wake.

Clang!

Swords clashed, sending a shockwave that scattered blades of grass, gouged a hole in the earth, and shattered fragments of a mana barrier.

Thud! Bang! Crash!

The dark blade carved sharp, precise arcs through the air, leaving behind afterimages that were as dark as the void. I moved my sword swiftly, dodging and countering its relentless assault.

Again and again...

I couldn’t remember how many days and nights I’d met my end. It had become almost routine, a grim cycle I couldn’t escape.

Crash!

Alsbringer slipped from my hands, and the dark sword loomed closer.

Slice!

The void sword, Lament, grazed my neck, sending a sharp, chilling pain through my mind.

Everything went black.

“Phew.”

I came to once more.

Once more, I found myself standing in the meadow, facing Ellen. She looked just as she always did. I unsheathed Tiamata, ready for another round.

This was my training for a future where death seemed unavoidable.

I realized I was becoming ever more familiar with defeat and death rather than victory.

“Can’t you just lose once?” I muttered.

Ellen, silent as ever in this dream, did not respond. She simply charged at me.

Swish!

With the grace of a gentle breeze, she lunged at me with her void sword.

This dream battle had long surpassed a thousand rounds.

Still, against Ellen, I couldn’t do more than just endure.

***

When I finally woke up, Airi was gently touching my forehead, her voice filled with concern.

“Why not just sleep peacefully? Once every three days should be enough, right?”

My forehead—really, my entire body—was soaked in cold sweat.

It was only natural. Experiencing death dozens of times in a dream without having any physical reaction would be odd. If anything, I was more afraid of becoming too accustomed to dying.

Sometimes, I wanted to quit this altogether because I feared that when a real fight came, I might just assume it was another dream and give up.

“I’ll sleep forever when I’m dead anyway,” I said. It was something I had picked up from somewhere and repeated without thinking.

Airi frowned. “Don’t say things like that...” she chided.

It was morning.

It had been over two months since the incident with the Church of the Five Great Gods.

It was March, and the long winter had finally given way to spring.

The spring of deployment.

The spring of the march had arrived.

***

“The Allied Forces are nearly ready to set out. As you know, their next destination is Gersonosia,” Harriet announced.

Everyone seated around her nodded in agreement.

The Allied Forces, having completed their reorganization, were now ready to march forward. This army was on a long expedition. Was this rest long enough, or too brief? It felt like it had passed in the blink of an eye.

Just as I had been busy during this time, the Allied Forces had been involved in their share of activities during that same short period.

“Your Highness, the Titan’s power efficiency improvement project is complete,” reported Sarkegar.

“How much improvement was made?” I asked.

“It seems it can now operate for about five times longer than before,” Sarkegar replied.

“So, roughly thirty to forty minutes?”

“Yes, and it appears additional armaments have also been installed,” he confirmed.

Previously, the Titan could only function for about seven minutes.

Throughout the winter break, Adelia, the Grand Duke, and the Grand Duke’s mage division embarked on an ambitious project to enhance the Titan, and in just three months, achieved the remarkable feat of increasing the Titan’s operational time fivefold.

Sarkegar concluded his report on the Allied Forces’ reconnaissance. Next up was Olivia Lanche.

“It’s going fairly well,” she began. “For now, you can consider all the high-ranking clergy as being fully integrated. We’re currently focusing on inculcating our beliefs in the lower-ranking priests, but are doing so discreetly, of course.”

“And how is the heretic recruitment policy progressing?” someone asked.

“It’s a sensitive issue,” Olivia replied. “Since the Empire’s announcement of its policy against heretics, we’ve been treading carefully, as you know. If we mishandle it, history might just repeat itself. Right now, our priority is to properly indoctrinate the priests within the Church. It’s a long process, and it’s still ongoing. You didn’t expect it to be quick, did you?”

“What about Rowen?” I asked.

“There’s not a single thing that isn’t wrong with her mentally, but when it comes to her work, there’s nothing to criticize. Honestly, that lunatic is probably the one who is most loyal to you. Just be wary of any strange antics that might come from her excessive loyalty.”

“That’s true,” I replied.

Bringing the Church of the Five Great Gods into the fold was inevitable, but convincing all the priests of the Five Great Orders to embrace the Demon God Cult wasn’t something that could be achieved overnight.

Incorporating the Church into the new Holy Order was a long-term endeavor, and instituting a policy to recruit all heretics was a task for the future. Until we had full control over the Church and reshaped it to our vision, we had to proceed cautiously.

Although the leadership was on our side, most of the lower-ranking priests remained unaware of this shift.

Since there were no external threats to worry about, our main concern was avoiding internal collapse.

Our focus was on reforming the Order of the Holy Knights and the Church of the Five Great Gods from within, although I wasn’t sure if “reform” was the right word.

It wasn’t just the Church that we had absorbed.

“What about the leaders of the Demon God Cult?”

“The integration process is going smoothly.”

“About sixty percent of them already share our beliefs,” Antirianus said with a sinister smile, a look that seemed to suit him perfectly. “With this momentum, it won’t be long before most of the demon god cultists share a consistent belief.”

As the nominal commander of the Order of the Holy Knights, Rowen had tasked Antirianus with the integration of the demon god cultists and the Hero Cult members in the refugee camp into the same faith.

Despite the nature of the task, no one was as diligent as Antirianus, which made him the ideal choice. Initially, Rowen hadn’t planned to assign this responsibility to Antirianus, but when the question of who would take on the task arose, the old man had eagerly volunteered with an almost childlike glee.

Once the demon god cultists were integrated into our system and the Church of the Five Great Gods sufficiently reformed, they could be merged into a new, unified group. In an instant, this newly unified group could become a nation in itself on the nearly ruined continent.

“I always told you not to do unnecessary things.”

“Do you have any doubts, Great Being?”

Rowen and Antirianus had something in common. They were reliable, yet there was always a lingering uncertainty about them. Antirianus had a knack for causing trouble at the worst times, and while Rowen was loyal, she had a tendency to act unpredictably on her own.

There’s a saying about borrowing the hands of a fern when you’re short-handed. But that saying is wrong. A fern’s hands cannot bring about disaster.

In many ways, it felt like there was no one around, and instead of borrowing the hands of a fern, I was relying on the hands of a devil.

The Allied Forces were ready to depart, and the enhancements to Titan had been confirmed.

The Church reformation project was progressing smoothly, and the integration of the demon god cultists was also on track.

I turned to Eleris.

“The deployment of the Immortals within the Allied Forces has been confirmed, Your Highness.”

“I see.”

‘Immortals...’ That was the secret name the Empire had chosen for them.

“Though they can’t be deployed openly, they’ll continue with their previous roles—scouting out the battlefield ahead of time and neutralizing small gates before they become a threat.”

“The Empire has only to deploy the elites among the Immortals,” Eleris continued. “In total, there are three thousand Master-class warriors, ten Grandmasters, and a thousand Archmages. Strictly speaking, these forces alone have the potential to capture a major city.

“Moreover, any minor damage they sustain is instantly healed, and even if they suffer catastrophic damage, it appears they can be revived and restored as well.”

Three thousand Master-class warriors, among the strongest humanity has ever known.

A thousand Archmages, capable of casting Mass Teleportation.

And ten Grandmasters, who were historically rare and powerful beyond measure. Some of these Grandmasters were also Archmages.

There were many geniuses throughout history, and now, all those geniuses had been brought back from death.

This was humanity’s mightiest army. Without a doubt, this would be the most formidable army in history.

Since they were already dead, they couldn’t be harmed, and any minor injuries would heal on their own. And even if they sustained severe damage, they would be automatically returned to the underground research lab beneath the Temple University’s magic department for restoration.

It was a truly apocalyptic army.

The Gate Incident was practically resolved.

Honestly, after being deployed and tested, the Empire might just discover that this army could handle even the largest warp gates on its own. If so, the Allied Forces might just disband immediately.

That immortal army was a concern, but we were focused on another issue.

“What about replication?” I asked.

“Currently, it seems impossible, but research is ongoing. I doubt the Empire would be willing to take it that far.”

An army created by reviving corpses...

An army of golems created by infusing dark magic into alchemically-grown tissue was already formidable. The thought of them gaining the ability to replicate was terrifying.

I was desperate to prevent such a scenario, which would be very much like cloning. Experiencing all this firsthand made me understand why people feared dangerous technology so deeply.

Even though the Empire shared the same goal as us for the moment, I couldn’t shake the fear of that power turning against me.

It reminded me of a time I couldn’t forget.

“If, in order to stop the Gate Incident, we’ve developed a technology that makes it seem trivial... I still can’t decide if that’s a good thing,” Charlotte remarked.

It was a statement that I fully agreed with. At this rate, it seemed the Gate Incident would be resolved smoothly, but the implications were unsettling. What if, in our attempt to overcome this crisis, we had unleashed too many other dangers? That worry lingered in my mind, refusing to let go.

“Maybe it’s not as complicated as it seems,” Lucinil said. “Even if the Immortals are powerful, they’re still just machines without free will. If we need to stop them, we should focus on subduing the one in control, not the machines themselves.”

Lucinil’s words resonated with me.

To disable a tank, you don’t need magic capable of destroying it; you just need magic that could take out the crew inside. Ultimately, an Immortal was a human-shaped golem, being controlled by someone else. If we could seize that control device, that Immortal would be nothing more than a lifeless shell.

But was that even possible?

I knew, of course, that our enemy wasn’t just the Empire.

“The key thing is, they know that too.”

“That’s true. They wouldn’t be fools.”

The Empire and those who had direct control of these Immortals had to be aware of their vulnerabilities.

There was no way they wouldn’t have considered these weaknesses which even we could identify.

If we tampered with anything recklessly, without proper preparation, the Immortal army might go berserk. Then, everything would be lost.

“Anyway, while the Immortals won’t be turned against us immediately, it would be wise to keep finding ways to neutralize or counter them.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The Allied Forces would begin marching again.

The landscape had changed, and the Allied Forces, having regrouped and reorganized, were now moving toward the resolution of the Gate Incident.

I turned my attention to Charlotte.

Having covered the external developments, it was time to discuss the internal affairs.

“The resettlement of immigrants is nearly finished. This will significantly ease the overpopulation problem in Rajak. We’ve successfully established local governments, and security concerns seem minimal.”

Dispersing Rajak’s overcrowding, resettlement across the archipelago had been a challenge due to the previous instability of local governments. New systems often came with their own set of challenges, but Charlotte had managed to establish stability among the local administrations.

Ensuring security and setting up a system so that administration could be easily performed through dissemination of power and effective reporting were crucial.

Finally, Edina was starting to feel like a real nation.

“Keep focusing on establishing and stabilizing local governments. If things take a turn for the worse, we might need to relocate all the heretics and demon god cultists from the capital to this area.”

The atmosphere in the imperial capital remained tense and somber.

To prevent another massive uprising and massacre, we might have to orchestrate the migration of hundreds of thousands, if not more, of people in a world still plagued by monsters.

One by one, the necessary tasks were being completed.

We were preparing for every possible scenario.

Yet, despite all this, I couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that all our preparations might end up being for nothing.

***

The Senate meeting concluded.

Our efforts to scout the battlefield and launch preemptive strikes would be momentarily halted, since the Immortals were taking over those tasks, and it was obvious that these Immortals could handle them with far more precision and reliability than we ever could.

The sheer scale of it all was enough to make one’s hair stand on end just hearing about it. Our participation might no longer be necessary at all, unless the Allied Forces were preparing for an assault on a major city. In fact, it was more likely we would find ourselves waiting, holding our breath while contemplating the aftermath of the Gate Incident.

After the meeting, Harriet, who had been trailing behind me, spoke up.

“Reinhart, do you have a moment?”

“I have plenty.”

Harriet paused. “I know I shouldn’t be the one asking this, but shouldn’t you be busier...?”

‘Oh. That’s true. I’m someone who shouldn’t have a lot of free time, right?’

“I have plenty of time for you is what I meant.”

Naturally, my bold words caused Thick-Skull’s face to flush a deep red. “Y-you’re crazy...!”

“Huh? Why are you freaking out when I said I have time?”

“Because you’re saying such shameless things without a second thought! You, you...! What if someone hears us?”

“So what if they overhear us? What are we, strangers?”

“Huh?”

‘No, seriously, what’s so weird? We’re not even complete strangers! I mean... I guess you have every right to think that way, though...’

“S-shut up!”

Harriet, her face flushed red, gave me a good beating.

As usual, it didn’t hurt at all.