Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 629

It was nighttime.

Thud...

A wooden cup hit the table with a dull sound.

Thud...

Once more.

Thud... Thud...

And then twice again.

Thud...

The owner of the cup quietly tapped the wooden cup against the table.

Across from them sat not a knight in armor, but a person in a robe with a hood pulled up, openly signaling their identity despite what seemed to be a secretive visit—Commander Rowen of the Order of the Holy Knights.

The owner of the tent, Louise von Schwartz, was simply tapping the wooden cup against the table. It was an action without apparent meaning. Although she had let the commander of the Holy Knights in following her sudden midnight visit, all Louise did after that was tap the cup against the table.

“Should I come again at a different time?” asked Rowen with a smile. It seemed Louise had no intention of having a conversation, and she was willing to return another time if necessary.

Louise quietly pushed the wooden cup toward her instead of answering. Her sudden action left Rowen looking puzzled.

“Are you giving this to me?”

“As you wish.”

Louise peered into the cup in front of her and saw that it was filled with an opaque, milky liquid.

A cup had been handed over to her out of nowhere, containing a liquid of unknown origin.

Rowen picked up the cup and drank it all in one go.

Louise quietly watched Rowen as she gulped down the contents.

“Ugh...”

After emptying the cup, Rowen put down the wooden cup, covered her mouth, and took a few deep breaths.

“I drank it because I didn’t really care if it was poison, but poison would have been better. What is this?”

She gagged again.

“It’s really thick, sour, and sticky... and quite unpleasant... Um... What is it...?”

Rowen, who rarely showed any expression, looked rather displeased.

“Is it alcohol?” she asked.

The mysterious liquid could not be anything else but alcohol.

Louise nodded.

“The priests of Ouen do have a precept against drinking.”

It had been a malicious act. The issue wasn’t just the taste of the alcohol, but the fact that someone had offered it to a holy knight of Ouen.

“I’ve heard there’s also a precept against killing as well,” replied Louise.

Rowen nodded calmly. “That’s true.”

It was strange for an inquisitor, who had tortured and killed countless people, to even bring up these precepts in the first place.

“There must also be a precept about chastity.”

“Surprisingly, that one is well kept.”

Louise stared intently at the commander, who looked nonchalantly back at her.

“By the way, do you enjoy drinking this kind of alcohol, Commander?” Rowen asked Louise. “I know that people enjoy various traditional liquors. If my reaction earlier was rude, I apologize.”

The world was vast, so there had to be a place where people drank such peculiar liquor. Rowen was offering an apology for her unpleasant reaction. There had to be a reason that the princess of Kernstadt might be sipping such strange liquor alone in her tent.

However, Louise shook her head.

“Not at all. I don’t know of any peculiar traditional liquor like this.”

“Hmm...? You don’t?”

“Yes, I don’t.”

“Then may I ask why you’re drinking such peculiar liquor?”

Rowen couldn’t understand why she would have such strange liquor open by herself while claiming that it wasn’t even traditional.

“This is bootleg liquor.”

“Oh... really?”

“Yes, it was confiscated from the soldiers who were brewing it.”

Louise had not been drinking heavily; she was merely tasting the confiscated liquor.

That was why she had not emptied her cup, but had simply been staring blankly at the liquid inside.

“It’s an incredible thing. We’re squeezing the lifeblood out of people to keep this army fed, and someone is using that lifeblood to brew alcohol. Should we call that effort? It’s impressive, yet absurd, and also...” Louise bit her lip. “It’s rather pitiful.”

This liquor was still being illegally brewed and consumed, despite tasting so foul.

Louise quietly looked at Rowen.

“What do you think should be done with the soldiers who brewed this?” she asked.

“They should be executed, I suppose.”

“Why should they be executed?”

“Because food is precious.”

“Why is food precious?”

“Because without it, we’d starve to death.”

“So you’re saying they should be executed because they misused resources that could mean life and death?”

“Yes. Isn’t that right?”

Louise quietly considered Rowen without replying.

When someone points to the moon, you’re supposed to look at the moon, not the finger. But in this case, that distinction was meaningless.

Anyone could state the truth. Anyone could point at the moon. So why should the moon matter?

It didn’t. What mattered was who was pointing. The moon itself had no meaning to begin with.

“Do you want to keep them alive?” Rowen asked, and Louise shook her head.

“What are you talking about?” she replied. “They’re already dead.”

Rowen looked puzzled. “Then why are you asking?”

“Well...”

No matter what Rowen said, the soldiers had already been executed. The consequences had already been meted out, and so the conversation was meaningless from the start.

Soldiers had managed to brew their own alcohol illegally. They had somehow managed it, and others had secretly partaken in it. Louise had ordered them to be executed, then confiscated all the illegal liquor they had brewed and tried a bit for herself. It was nothing more than a terribly tasteless and unpleasant white liquid.

Soldiers had lost their lives just for making such a thing.

“Those who stole food to make this had their heads bashed in,” Louise said as she looked at Rowen, “but the woman who pillaged countless lives and even the entire Church of the Five Great Gods is strutting around as the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights, poking her nose wherever she pleases.”

Her gaze was fierce. “And here I am, unable to even throw a bucket of cold water, let alone my sword, at such a wicked and audacious thief.”

Petty thieves had been punished, and their lives had been taken from them. However, a master thief had gotten away with a crime that could not even be questioned.

Why did those petty thieves have to die? Why had they been killed?

Only the small are trampled on.

In the end, Louise wanted to bite her tongue. She had killed her brothers with her own hands. She had no right to judge others. How was it different from cursing at her own reflection in a mirror?

No matter whether Louise spoke or remained silent, she only felt more miserable. Filled with self-loathing, sorrow, and resentment, Louise von Schwartz continued to stare at the Commander of the Holy Knights, her vision blurring.

“Enough. State your business.”

Louise was ready to listen. The sour scent of the alcohol still lingered in the tent.

“The Demon King has chosen you,” Rowen whispered.

“...”

Louise remained silent.

She had anticipated such a situation.

‘Chosen...’ As if the Demon King had become someone who could use that word.

No, it was the messenger who chose the words, not the Demon King. The expression worn by this worshiper of the Demon King, her face full of joyous anticipation, as though she expected Louise to be pleased by this revelation, was enough to make it clear.

Louise did not respond for a very long time.

How much time had passed?

Louise opened the barrel beside her, dipped a cup into it, and scooped out a full cup of the foul liquid.

She drank quietly.

As if she couldn’t bear not to drink it.

As if she were downing a poison.

This liquid, called moonshine... She drank the pale liquid that had been robbed of its name by something else entirely.

It was not a strong drink, but a strange one.

She finished the contents of her cup. Her eyes were clear.

She wiped her mouth and murmured quietly, “What a terrible taste...”

How could a drink made of blood and tears ever taste sweet?

***

“Acquiring Kernstadt would be like having half of the Allied Forces cross over to our side,” Charlotte said.

I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion. “Isn’t that an exaggeration?”

“Do you think I don’t know the actual figures? Sure, Kernstadt makes up less than half the actual strength of the Allied Forces. Less than a quarter, strictly speaking.”

“Exactly.”

Charlotte and I were sitting alone in the council chamber of Rajak.

“But look at it this way. Let’s say a small local kingdom with about a thousand troops decides to side with us. What do you think would happen the moment that ruler says, ‘I now support the Demon King’?”

“Unless they have a death wish, they wouldn’t do such a thing. But if they did, they’d be lucky to die a peaceful death.”

“They’d be cut down immediately, right?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

It was obvious that if a small and weak entity suddenly declared support for the Demon King, their leaders would lose their heads in an instant.

“If the ruler of a small kingdom did something like that, people would just think they’re crazy and move on. But if a country like Kernstadt made such a decision, people would naturally start wondering why. ‘Why would a country like Kernstadt suddenly go mad and support the Demon King at this time?’ they would ask. Correct?”

“Well... I guess they would.”

The mighty do not fall easily.

But would there be smoke without fire?

If a major nation like Kernstadt suddenly made such a decision, it would naturally be met with fierce criticism, but it would also come as a tremendous shock. ‘Why on earth would Kernstadt do that? What could they possibly get out of it?’

Other rulers and those with power and influence would naturally begin to ask such questions.

“But would Kernstadt be acting alone? We also have the Church of the Five Great Gods, don’t we?”

“That’s true.”

If both the Principality of Kernstadt and the Church of the Five Great Gods declared support for the Demon King at the same time, that would mean not one, but two madmen were siding with him.

Kernstadt was the largest nation aside from the Empire, and the Church of the Five Great Gods was an institution that transcended nations. If those two groups began to openly support the Demon King, it would be a clear sign that something serious was going on.

“If that happens, then everyone would be faced with a choice: whether to support the Empire or the Demon King.”

For humanity to support the Demon King would be sheer madness from the start.

However, the moment those two great powers made their support public, the rest of humanity would have to seriously consider whether to support the Demon King or not.

Of course, it would be the leaders and top brass of each faction, not the majority of humanity, who would do the pondering.

To survive, they would have no choice but to do whatever it took.

There would be factions that would furiously declare they could never side with the enemy, even if it meant fighting to the death. But there would also be factions that would willingly side with me, claiming that survival was the ultimate good.

Would the Demon King emerge victorious, or would the Empire...?

Those who wished to survive would have to start predicting.

If that were true, then Charlotte’s statement that more than half of humanity might side with me was not wrong. The moment they realized that the two great powers had sided with me, the other leaders would begin to place their bets. It would be utter chaos.

In reality, Kernstadt siding with me wouldn’t exactly split humanity in half, but as the power dynamics shifted, perhaps more than half of those who had to face the reckoning would end up on my side.

“How amusing. Not long ago everyone was eager to kill me, yet now, such a thing has become possible.”

“Do you not know how common it is to serve a king you despise enough to kill, simply because he wears the crown?”

I blinked. “When you put it that way, it doesn’t seem all that strange.”

Just as there would be those willing to fight me even at the cost of their lives, there would naturally be those who would crawl between the Demon King’s legs to survive.

It wasn’t easy to say if the former or the latter would be the majority, but it was clear that those who fell into the latter camp would not be small in number.

“Anyway, all these assumptions hinge on the premise that Louise von Schwartz will support me...”

“That’s right.”

Louise von Schwartz... Charlotte had been the one to suggest that she had to be won over first, before any other future plans were made.

It was a laughable situation.

If I had done nothing, Louise von Schwartz would have been framed for Heinrich’s assassination and executed by Vertus. In the end, though, both Louise and Heinrich survived. Thus, the possibility of Louise standing by my side could be considered.

Ultimately, while the defection of the Order of the Holy Knights and the greater Church would shake the Allied Forces, securing a significant power base would be impossible without first recruiting Louise von Schwartz.

An outline had to be sketched before even attempting to draw a picture.

I had left it to Rowen, and we could be certain of the outcome until confirmation was received.

“If this were last year, it might be different, but the situation has changed a lot, and Louise herself has learned quite a bit.”

She knew what the Empire was up to, and she was aware that I had wrested control of the Church of the Five Great Gods.

Whether she knew about the origins of the Gate Incident was still unclear.

Even so, Louise understood that siding with me at this time was not strange at all.

She had no reason to engage in a desperate battle against me, and she also knew that the balance of power was gradually shifting in my favor.

However, whether Louise knew those trivial facts and truths was not important. Above all else, Louise knew that, in order to survive, she had to side with me.

“Louise von Schwartz will be on our side.”

Louise knew what the Emperor was thinking. That alone would make her side with me.

She already knew who would win this fight. In fact, she knew that this wasn’t even a fight to begin with.

***

Good and evil is a matter of those who record history to decide. Therefore, those who hold the reins of power and the means to write history can always define something as good and something else as evil. The meaning of good and evil itself fades away. Ultimately, it only matters who holds the pen.

In the end, who is truly good, and who is truly evil?

Such discussions only result in endless sleepless nights.

Those who live to hold the pen would become the ones with justice and righteousness on their side. Therefore, survival alone meant justice, and by extension, righteousness.

The defeated would be recorded as evil. Not because they were actually evil, but because they were defeated.

“...”

Louise von Schwartz was not pondering her choice in that long silence. The conclusion had already been reached, and the choice had already been made.

She needed to consider whether she could bear it.

The whole situation had grown into a tangled mess. She had witnessed things she should never have seen or known, leading to unexpected outcomes and effects in unexpected places.

Eventually, everything would fall into the hands of the Demon King.

Louise was painfully aware of that.

Kernstadt, and the Church of the Five Great Gods...

Once the Gate Incident was fully resolved, more than half of the Allied Forces would have pledged their loyalty to the Demon King.

Leading them would be Rowen, the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights.

For an inquisitor who had always maintained order through ruthless means, establishing control through blood and deceit was nothing new.

Deception, extortion, conspiracy, intrigue, torture, brainwashing. Her life was filled with nothing but vile and dirty deeds.

Rowen quietly watched the princess of Kernstadt, who sat in silence. Given King Konstantin’s age, her choices were effectively the choices of Kernstadt.

After a pause, Louise finally spoke.

“I have one condition.”

“A condition?” Rowen echoed.

“If it is met, then I’ll support you.”

Louise wasn’t just agreeing to join them outright.

“I can certainly convey it. What is the condition?”

“There’s no need to seek the Demon King’s permission. It’s something that you can agree to.”

Rowen paused. “Do I have the authority to decide?”

“Of course.”

The condition Louise demanded was simple.

“The condition is your life.”

Rowen’s brow furrowed at the unexpected request. “Sorry?”

Out of the blue, her life had been demanded as payment...

“I can give it, but do you really dislike me that much?”

“I do dislike you, and yes, I think it would be nice if you were dead. But this is a different matter.”

“How is it different?”

Louise seemed to enjoy the look of confusion on Rowen’s face, grinning as she took a sip of moonshine.

“Is the Demon King planning to rule rather than oppress?” asked Louise.

“We’ll have to see what the actual outcome is, but I suppose he intends to do the latter, doesn’t he?”

“Then your life is all the more necessary.”

Rowen seemed even more confused, and Louise laughed heartily.

“Well... isn’t it obvious?”

Her laughter was full and deep.

“A crazy woman who led riots, incited massacres, and spent her life as an inquisitor, slaughtering countless people... How could she be of any help in the way the Demon King wishes to rule?”

“...”

“Moreover, with so many who know these facts, do you think your secret will be kept forever?”

“It won’t be,” Rowen admitted after a pause.

“So you must die. Even if you can be of help now, once the Demon King’s world is complete, the last act of loyalty you can perform is to stand on the platform of judgment and be purged. No—in fact, only then will your loyalty be complete.”

Rowen’s expression had gone rigid.

Her role was only for the present. She had done too much thus far, regardless of her true character. Because of the crimes she had committed, she would have to be judged when the new reign began.

When peace finally took hold, her very existence would become a risk. Therefore, the moment the world she truly desired arrived, Rowen had to die.

To stay true to her loyalty, she had to die.

Rowen’s death was necessary. Not for Louise, but for the Demon King. Louise had personal feelings about this, but Rowen’s death was a condition that was unrelated to those feelings.

If Rowen did not die, the Demon King’s hold on power would be threatened. Louise’s argument was sound. For the sake of the Demon King, she had to die.

“Did the shadowy being, who was always meant to live in the shadows, really think that just because she donned a badge in a time of chaos, she could live in the light? That could never be.”

Louise looked at her with a sinister smile, as if she could not bear the irony.

Louise von Schwartz was the princess of Kernstadt.

She was First Princess of the First Principality, and the heir to the second-largest nation in the world.

Just because it was a losing deal for her did not mean she would gain nothing in return.

Naturally, Louise was more familiar with schemes, plots, and intrigues.

“New commander. Even if the situation changes and your position changes, will your fundamental nature change?”

Thud...

Once again, Louise tapped the wooden cup on the table.

It did not matter if she was now the envoy of the Demon King. It did not matter how solid her current power seemed. Her true essence would not change.

Louise was a princess and the heir of a great nation.

Rowen was merely a butcher of humans, destined to live in the shadows.

Just as poor ingredients stolen by petty people made for a foul moonshine, something that was cheap would always remain cheap.

“How can moss thrive in the sunlight?”

A creature destined to live in the shadows would wither and die if it forgot its place and tried to step into the light.