7DP 187
187: The Demon Prince Enters the Castle
TL: Cnine
ED/PF:
Part 1
――The sky was stained with darkness, and the Demon King Army’s encampment was shrouded in a restless, urgent air.
The demon warriors, battle-ready, and the disciplined night elf squads marched steadily toward the battlefield, one after another.
Even the demons, let alone the night elves, wore tense expressions. The day’s push to seize the royal capital had revealed the full extent of the demon warriors’ losses.
Of the more than 200 demons who had entered the royal capital, over 60 had been killed.
Considering that roughly 20 had fallen in the battle to take the fortresses, the scale of the damage was simply astonishing.
（As a side note, although more demon warriors were injured, since the army was primarily composed of the Reiju clan, nearly all were instantly healed and returned to the front lines.）
In short, of the 400 demon warriors, 80 had been killed outright in yesterday’s battle. The shock was immense. The enemies were so skilled that they left no time even to recover with the【Transpose Curse】――
Word had spread that Demon Prince Jilbagias had clashed with an elite enemy squad, resulting in the complete loss of eight of his subordinates. To avenge them, the prince had supposedly single-handedly wiped out the enemy force, with numerous bodies of heroes, sword saints, and spellcasters recovered as proof. Whether the enemy hero responsible for the large-scale destruction in the city was among them remains unknown.
Tomorrow might be their turn to be in those same shoes. The demons, who had come in high spirits seeking glory, were finally stepping onto the true battlefield. The night elves and beastmen, who had been risking their lives from the start, must be struggling to keep up…
The crescent moon cast its pale light over the royal city of Evaloti.
At the centre of the royal capital, the royal castle stood beside a radiant giant tree, its walls surrounded by a vast, aurora-like magical barrier.
Siege formations had already been established throughout the city, and fire was being unleashed upon the gates and watchtowers.
「…Are you truly going to go by yourself?」
Overlooking the royal capital from the main camp, Marquis Veteranos once again posed his question to the prince beside him.
「Ah.」
The Demon Prince, Jilbagias Reiju, gave a curt nod, already fully clad in white dragon scale mail, helmet included.
「At the very least, bring along one attendant with you. I have capable men among my own ranks as well.」
「I appreciate it, but your thought alone is enough.」
The refusal came bluntly, leaving no room for argument.
「My men… they’re the ones who trained alongside me throughout the entire winter. Any temporary subordinates would be unable to fight effectively and would just get caught up in the aftermath of my spells.」
Jilbagias stared at the royal castle with a distant look in his eyes.
「I prefer to do this by myself… that’ll do.」
The prince, expressionless as an iron mask yet exuding a quiet, tragic determination, left even the seasoned Veteranos at a loss for words.
「Yet… should anything befall His Highness, it would be impossible for me to answer to your mother. If there’s a risk of collateral harm, you should retreat immediately. I ask you to reconsider your decision.――」
Though he knew it was improper to do so before the march, Veteranos offered a word of caution.
「A worst-case scenario? That’s simply the way of the battlefield. This is a fight to the death—if I’m taken down, it only proves the enemy was the better one.」
The prince was completely unapproachable, offering no opening for anyone to reach him.
「Moreover, Mother is a strong woman. She wouldn’t worry over me in every battle. By now, she’s probably standing firm in the Demon King’s castle… trusting me, I hope.」
Jilbagias smirked with irony.
「... I guess that’s just the way things are.」
Realising it was pointless to argue, Veteranos, too, let his gaze drift into the distance.
「You’ve already achieved more than enough in battle… why go that far?」
He couldn’t help but ask.
The Demon Prince had already captured the first fortress, slain countless heroes and sword saints. Even if it wasn’t his first battle, his achievements were more than enough. For a campaign meant to avenge his fallen retainers, he seemed to be living far too recklessly.
「Why, you ask?」
The prince snorted dismissively.
「――I want to surpass my father.」
He replied curtly.
Yet resolutely.
Exuding an air of unshakable authority, he spoke.
「I will become the strongest warrior of this kingdom.」
His blazing, passionate gaze cut straight into Veteranos’ eyes.
「――For the sake of those who have died… isn’t that enough reason?」
All Veteranos could do was shake his head and sigh helplessly.
「That's all.」
As if the matter were settled, the prince shouldered his strange spear and stepped onto the battlefield.
Sigh――
In that moment, Veteranos realised the prince was different from him—not a mere mediocre soul who had simply been lucky to live long.
He was born to be a champion.
Once this battle was over, he would undoubtedly reach the rank of marquis, and before long, surpass him… if he survived, that is.
Veteranos closed his eyes for a moment and only said, "Godspeed."
――He’s still young,
And yet, that back carried a resolve almost heavier than it ought to.
†††
The outer walls surrounding the royal castle shook with heavy thuds.
The demons’ magic and the beastfolk’s catapults unleashed a concentrated barrage targeting the castle gates and watchtowers.
However, the humans’ finest protective magic, expertly tuned by the Forest Elf sage, had deployed the Great Sacred Tree’s barrier along the very edge of the castle walls, greatly weakening the impact of the incoming attacks.
Even so, the sight of the castle walls trembling was terrifying—without the protective magic, they would have collapsed instantly. Yet no one in the Alliance Army flinched, even after witnessing such a dreadful spectacle.
「FIRE IN THE HOLE!」
Atop the castle walls, the soldiers held their ground valiantly. Even a soldier with a wounded leg manned a crossbow from Niburn Fortress, swapping bolts with his comrades as he sniped at the advancing enemy.
The militia busily hurled rocks and rubble, crushing the skulls of beastfolk trying to scale the walls. Any devil soldiers who broke through the barrier were swarmed and beaten back as the defenders struggled desperately to hold out until the priests and heroes arrived to assist.
「Bloody hell, stop darting around like that—ugh!」
Suddenly, the crossbowman recoiled. A black-feathered Night Elf arrow had pierced his left eye—killing him instantly. What seemed like leisurely firing with comrades reloading was, in truth, the most perilous duty, leaving him wide open to counter-snipes.
「Let’s change position. Next… I’ll take over.」
Gritting his teeth, the soldier missing his left arm grabbed the crossbow from his fallen comrade. The snipers nodded, drawing their strings as they readied themselves to fire from another window in the watchtower——
「DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!」
From atop the castle gate—the structure known as the 『Gatehouse』—boiling water was poured down upon the demons and Night Elf raiders gathered below to destroy it.
「GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」
「AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!」
The Night Elves screamed in unearthly agony, while the demons leapt and writhed from the heat; whether they had protective wards or not clearly marked the difference between suffering and survival.
However, that wasn’t the end of it.
「FREE SECOND SERVING! ENJOY IT!」
The soldiers clutching pots of boiling oil poured them out with wicked grins, letting the searing liquid fall through the holes in the floor onto the demons directly below——
「GAAAH!!.. CRAP, IT'S BOILING OIL!」
「Burn to a crisp!」
A torch was thrown into the oil, and the gate instantly turned into a blazing inferno.
「GUGYAAAAAAAAAAA!!」
「You’ll pay for this!!」
The demons, suffering minor burns with singed hair and eyebrows, muttered curses as they retreated. They tried to transfer the burns to the humans above with the 【Transpose】 curse, but the great sacred tree’s barrier blocked every attempt.
The night elves and beastfolk who lacked magic wards had long since perished, crushed beneath the inferno.
「Dammit, we doused them in oil and set them on fire, yet they’re still fine…」
「The demons aren't that much of a threat...」
Grumbling, the soldiers placed pots over the fire, preparing more oil and boiling water for the next wave of attacks. The area below had already turned into a sea of flames. No demon would dare enter without using ice magic—and even if they did, they’d suffer the same fate again—
Or so the soldiers thought.
「... Hm?」
But one of the soldiers noticed something amiss and glanced down at the gate through a hole in the floor. The space below, which had moments ago crackled and roared with flames—
The fire had been extinguished in the blink of an eye.
――Then, a silvery light flashed across his field of vision.
「Ghkk!」
A blade shot up into his open mouth, drove through his throat, and pinned him to the ceiling. His body dangled limply, like a grotesque chandelier. Hideous though the scene was, his neck had been crushed—he died instantly, spared from any real suffering.
「Wha――」
The surrounding soldiers stood frozen in shock.
The thing that had skewered the hapless man—was a pale, bone-white spear.
Rather—
Its spearhead was, in fact, a sword.
The shaft snapped out and contracted like a living thing.
The soldiers could never have guessed that this weapon was forged from human bone, reshaped at will by a demon’s magic, and guided by its own will to serve its master with deadly loyalty.
As though being hauled upwards by the spear itself—
a pale silver silhouette erupted from the gap in the floor.
――He already knew.
That within human castles, the gate towers were cocooned in layer upon layer of magic wards.
They were highly resistant to magic. And since the task was nothing more than pouring scalding oil or hurling down rubble, it was ordinary soldiers—not veteran ones—who were stationed there.
He also knew that the holes left in the floors were only large enough for a child to slip through, and that no iron grates had been set across them.
Hence——should one overcome the problem of elevation, the defences proved far more vulnerable to brute force than one might expect—!
「【Our Name is Jilbagias Reiju】」
With a grisly squelch, the boy wrenched his spear free and let the corpse fall, declaring:
「【I am the Seventh Prince of the Demon Kingdom—the one who shall bring ruin upon your kingdom.】」
The spear gave a menacing roar.
「――BE MY NUTRITION!」
In the next heartbeat, the guardroom of the gate tower was drowned in blood—his own blood.