7DP 184
184. The Prince's Merit
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
Part 1
――The Demon King Army's Headquarters.
Looking down upon the burning royal capital of Evaloti from the high ground, Marquis Veteranos Reiju let out a quiet sigh.
「I warned them not to use fire as much as possible…」
For this campaign, His Majesty the Demon King had issued strict orders: the royal capital’s streets were to be left with as little damage as possible. Across the alliance fronts, the excessive destruction of cityscapes had grown beyond intolerable, and each time, the burden of rebuilding fell upon the Corvut clan—until at last, their complaints could no longer be ignored.
Nor could the Corvut clan be made to toil without compensation. Every time a city was seized, payment was rendered. And when those sums were tallied, their coffers towered above those of every other clan—a fortune earned from ruin and rebirth.
It was the Corvut clan who had long borne the weight of the Demon Kingdom’s construction and roads. “We need no money, no reward—only rest,” they cried. And the Demon King, mindful of the balance of power among the clans, wished to grant them respite. Thus, by weary chance, the interests of both sides found harmony.
…And yet, for all that could be said, the royal capital, Evaloti, still burned.
「Well, there’s little use in quibbling over this and that.」
Telling a fire spellcaster not to use flames was the height of folly, and the humans themselves were just as quick to set things ablaze—there was nothing to be done in such a situation.
The outer ramparts may burn to cinders without care—yet should the city itself be reduced to ashes, even Veteranos could not escape a barb or two from the Demon King.
「...Ha~h.」
As the messengers of the Izanis clan delivered their reports, Veteranos watched over the battlefield, loosing yet another weary sigh.
（Things were much better when I was raising havoc on the front lines…）
After twists of fate that raised his peerage all the way to marquis, he had long since struck the ceiling of his own growth. Now, with the weight of years pressing in, he had yielded his place to the younger generation and sat as a commander instead of standing on the front line, and yet…
（I cannot help but feel this role is ill-suited for me…）
He longed for the days when he spared no thought for whether the city burned or stood defended, but simply cut down his foes at will and waited, content, for the reward to come.
…And yet, when he recalled those events in his later years, he realised that in those reckless days of youth—when he rampaged as he pleased—there must surely have been some commander above him, fretting, burdened, and nursing an aching stomach over his antics. He could not even recall who those commanders had been.
「Ha~h… Growing old is a fate one could gladly do without…」
As his gaze drifted into the distance, another radiant tree of light flickered once more, then vanished without a trace.
「Oh, it fell, huh.」
The fortress had fallen, swallowed whole by the tide of war.
Now but a single great tree of light remained; of the six fortresses, nearly all had fallen into their hands.
The pace was swifter than he had ever imagined. Surely, the fall of the Fourth Fortress so soon after the war began had sent ripples of unrest through the enemy ranks, and that had made all the difference.
He had reckoned on five days to bring the royal capital Evaloti to heel, but they might need only three days to erect the flag of the Demon Kingdom above the royal palace.
（As expected of Platyfia's son—truly a terrifying talent.）
The reports told him that Jilbagias, despite this being his first campaign, had led the charge with fearless steel, cutting down heroes and sword saints in his wake. Not only had he claimed their heads, but he was the first to seize the fortress—and when he also shattered the barrier protecting the royal capital, his triumph was sealed beyond doubt.
（His promotion to count rank is guaranteed. He might even be promoted to marquis rank...）
As he pictured the figure of the young, almost childlike Demon Prince, Veteranos let a sardonic smile cross his face. The amount of the current prince's magical power was more than sufficient, and his contributions were real; promotion was all but assured.
Yet, no matter how prodigiously talented the young genius might be, the thought of one so young—practically a child—seeking to stand shoulder to shoulder with him stirred a twinge of uneasy pride within Veteranos.
（Whoops, can't get sentimental now.）
Where true ability accompanies one’s peerage, then the rank is rightly earned. Envy and spite—those were what Veteranos despised most. Especially in his youth, he had loathed how the elderly demons crushed the talented younger generation. He had vowed never to become like them.
――Jilbagias had seized the Fourth Fortress, taken a brief respite, and then pressed on stoically into the royal capital—yet there was a possibility that his achievement might be even greater than that.
It remained unclear how much strength the Evaloti defence still possessed, yet even the final fortress seemed on the verge of falling too.
「No...」
However, Veteranos raised his face, looking to the night sky.
Spring had arrived, and the nights had grown shorter. The dawn had already come.
「Hmph… We could just storm the fortress.」
Should we focus on seizing the entire fortress in a single day, or follow the plan and complete the tally of losses and the reorganisation? If we kept fighting stubbornly past sunrise, the other clans might start whispering about us—
「REPORTING! His Highness Jilbagias has returned.」
Just then, a messenger from the Izanis clan arrived with news.
「He has returned, eh? How many heads has he claimed, I wonder?」
Veteranos allowed himself a faintly mocking smile, but the messenger’s taut expression told him at once that something was amiss.
「Is something the matter?」
「Uhm... His Highness’s retainers... All of them were killed in action!」
「WHAT!?」
Veteranos opened his mouth wide in disbelief.
Jilbagias’ retainers… were wiped out!?
（Impossible! The Auril fools aside, Kvirtal was supposed to be with them!）
Even within their clan, Kvirtal’s group was renowned for their prowess—Kvirtal in particular, with Corvut blood running in his veins, was a supreme elite among elites. And yet… they were utterly annihilated.
「Is Jilbagias-dono unharmed!?」
「Yes, he made it back on his own… though he has a wound on his neck.」
Veteranos touched his own face at the messenger’s report—tracing the scar left by holy energy. If a member of the Reiju clan bore such a mark, it confirmed his worst fears.
And on his neck, no less. Clearly, the prince had survived a brutal ordeal.
Fortunately, he was able to walk back on his own. If he had perished, it would have been a stain upon the clan—and Veteranos might have found himself strangled by Platyfia.
Still, what exactly happened here—?
「He’ll be arriving here shortly.」
Having said that, the messenger sprinted away. After a brief pause, an uncanny magical energy made itself felt, gradually drawing nearer.
…I see. No wonder the messenger’s face was so tight with tension.
The moment he felt it, Veteranos realised.
The once lively headquarters, filled with warriors’ tales of glory, seemed to grow icy cold.
「Your Highness...」
He was at a loss for words.
His face and eyes were completely transformed from how they had been before the campaign.
Above everything else, there was his formidable magical power—one that unmistakably matched, if not exceeded, Veteranos’s own.
The boy, who had been of viscount rank equivalent to a count, now bore the commanding presence of a senior demon.
「I'm back. You must’ve already heard that Kvirtal and the other eight martyred in battle.」
Jilbagias announced in a flat voice. Surely, one would expect him to be reeling from the total destruction of his retainers.
It felt as though he were speaking to a block of solid iron.
「…What on earth could have happened?」
「We ran into an elite enemy force in the city and were hit by a preemptive strike from the Sword Saint—a warrior strong enough to flatten the city with a single swing of his sword.」
「...Yeah.」
The reports he had received earlier did mention that one of the fortresses was guarded by a troublesome Sword Saint.
I see… Since the Fourth Fortress was captured, they must have been reassigned to defend the city.
「Moreover, the enemy included a forest elf spellcaster, archers, a large number of priests, Sword Saints, a Fist Saint, and—」
Jilbagias hesitated for a beat, then—
「――There was a hero too.」
Which explained why nearly all of his men were wiped out.
Jilbagias continued.
「But one managed to survive. We teamed up and destroyed the enemy squad… only for him to fall in the end too.」
Jilbagias spoke with a flat expression all the while.
The corner of his lips――
...Forget it. It must be just my imagination.
「That 『One』, is it Kvirtal?」
「No, it’s a demon called Alvar Auril. Kvirtal traded killing blows with the Sword Saint, which caused catastrophic damage to us.」
「I see... So that’s how it was.」
He looked at the scar that ran along half of Jilbagias’s neck, its flesh ravaged by holy energy.
Veteranos found himself at a loss for words.
「…So, just one stronghold left. Is it time for the all-out attack?」
Suddenly, Jilbagias averted his gaze and, staring at the fortress, posed a question.
「No… since dawn is nearly upon us. We should first calculate the damage, reorganise our troops, and then launch another attack tomorrow.」
By now, the ones who had set out into the city ought to be returning, but there appeared to be fewer than usual compared to other battlefields. Perhaps the cramped cityscape made it difficult to judge the situation.
「I see… Yes, that would be for the best.」
Jilbagias readily agreed.
「Alright then, I’ll get some rest as well and prepare myself for the day ahead.」
「…You would still go on fighting?」
With a look of sheer bewilderment, Veteranos asked his question.
The outcome was more than satisfactory as it stood. Even so, would he return to the battlefield when all his men had perished?
「Can’t I?」
Jilbagias’s answer came back in a completely flat tone. His bearing—as though to say, “What’s so strange about it?”—rendered Veteranos speechless once more.
「No… If that is what you truly want.」
「In that case, I’ll excuse myself, Commander.」
Jilbagias spun on his heel and walked away.
His gait was firm and steady.
（Platyfia… What on earth have you given birth to…?）
Seeing him off, Veteranos eased the tension in his shoulders. …It struck him a moment later that he had been holding himself taut the whole time.
――In front of a child.
「...」
However… His demeanour was the real thing. It was the look of a man who had endured the battlefield.
「…I’m glad you made it through unharmed.」
Veteranos, speaking barely above a whisper, offered Jilbagias a silent bow from behind.
With renewed resolve, he cast his gaze once more upon the capital, engulfed in flames.
Fires blazed in the streets, and with dawn’s first light piercing through, the royal capital seemed awash in blood-red hues.
「That’s the end of today’s battle.」
With a hand brushing his beard, he murmured a few words to no one but himself.
「And yet... not everyone returned.」
The men who had marched into the city had not sent back so much as a whisper of news. What could they be up to—had they lost their way, like children? At his own foolish notion, Veteranos let out a faint, bitter smile.
Even with the sun now fully risen...
He could hardly believe the number of warriors who had yet to come back.
†††
Through the alleyways of the royal capital, laid waste by utter destruction.
The first rays of morning were lighting the land.
Debris lay scattered everywhere, blood spattered across the walls and paving stones, and——
Silent heaps of corpses.
It wasn’t just the alliance army.
Even the likes of night elves and demons were mixed among them.
With eyes wide open and brimming with fierce light, they glared into the morning sky.
From the slashes that tore their bodies apart, and the burns that marred their flesh—
Any experienced fighter would probably come to the same conclusion.
――They were killed by the hero.