Hero without Blood or Tear

I jerked as I shook all over.

It was hard to believe I’ve just crushed the demon king, the 3^rd one in the line of power, at this time!

The great was hasn’t even started. When that time of confusion comes, the demon King Odgarsh would’ve been sure to go berserk. But, I have eliminated that seed in advance. I have disgraced, deceived, and killed him in the end. That great magnate of evil, that was.

“Krahahahah-!”

With this, the fight has clearly turned more advantageous.

“Skull Face!”

“Hahahaha! What is it.”

Schwartzertoyel pointed to the dead Odgarsh in the middle of my laughter.

“Are you not going to make him an undead?”

“That would be nice, but that is pushing it.”

I shook my head quickly. I couldn’t attempt to make a member of the invincible race an undead with the level of my skill. Doing so would require preserving the corpse, but there was no way to do so. The corpse of any invincible race turning to dust after a fixed duration of time was the reason. I explained these things.

“Even if the summoning ability improves day by day, and be able to command it to resolve future great problems, how could that thing be preserved until then…..”

But surprisingly, Schwartzertoyel shook his head.

“Well, there is a way.”

“Are you sure?”

He smiled confidently when my eyes opened wide with a surprise.

“What do you make of me, the demon dragon.”

I suppose, an entity which was beyond standards would have a way.

“Are you doing it for free? What is your motive?”

“Jeez! You are only suspicious of others’ intentions first, because the only thing you do is to go around scamming others every day!”

“Hm… If the other party was a demon dragon, it is normal to do so. Think of your reputation.”

Schwartzertoyel’s reputation had fallen to the bottom of the ground. It appeared as if his reputation couldn’t go any lower, but each year, it would fall even lower.

“Uuuugh…..”

Schwartzertoyel immediately lost for words to say in response to my pointed remarks, perhaps, because he thought of all the sins that he had committed over the years.

“Aaaaah. Well, think of it as a demon dragon, having a change of heart. Or you may also think of it as a reward for capturing that troublesome demon king. If this bastard could be made an undead, he would be the perfect one to be a protector of the city of the undead which you’re dreaming of.”

It seemed that Schwartzertoyel wanted to be on my good side. He may be making the first move by making a good gesture as we would have many things to do together. I happily accepted his kind offer.

“There would be nothing better than to making him an undead.”

“It would cause a lot of problems later.”

“No worries. If you can preserve him, I would take care of the rest, somehow.”

An ultimate, the ugliest undead would be born should the demon king Odgarsh’s corpse could be turned into an undead. I was thinking about making him the chief gatekeeper of the city of the undead.

“Alright!”

Schwartzertoyel initiated magic. It was a magic as tough as stopping the reference of time.

“Huhhuh! Such thing was possible, too?”

As I asked after losing for words to say, he put on a proud look on his face and acted arrogantly.

“I did not age for nothing.”

Certainly, it would be much better to keep him alive and continue to use him….

“Thank you. It was a great help.”

Happily, I put away the corpse of the demon king Odgarsh which has been frozen in gray light. Then there came a beautiful, clear voice from next to me.

“Certainly, there was something here.”

Surprised, the three of us turned our heads toward the source of the voice, and there stood Roelin with a calm expression. Her voluminous hair harmoniously mingled with the fire, and rippled like the flames.

Gosh, didn’t even know you were here. Suddenly, I felt a chill on my back at Roelin’s ability.

“This girl was enjoying watching everything. Today was very important. Yet, Valer kept picking a fight with him. Should I say that it was as if he wanted to mess things up, perhaps.”

She certainly was a quick-witted woman.

“My, I didn’t realize that Roelin, your highness, would make your presence here. Should we change the venue, as it is not such a great one?”

I said, pointing out the flames all around us.

Kkkkkk! Kwang!

It looked very dangerous as burning timbers were falling down. Roelin nodded her head, and with magic, we all returned to Schwartzertoyel’s nest.

“Is Kalione really the daughter of Keyumarus?”

Roelin asked with a shaking voice as soon as we came back. So, I played the previously recorded video for her. The video contained the confession made by the demon king Odgarsh.

“Ahah!”

Suddenly shaking, Roelin grabbed Kalione’s hand.

“Princess!”

“What?!”

Kalione appeared to be shocked by Roelin’s reaction. Since I understood Roelin’s background, I could see why Roelin was acting that way.

She was one of the dedicated servants of the deceased Keyumarus. Besides, Keyumarus had been Roelin’s first love. But, unable to make that known to him as he was married, she went through heartaches, so it was apparent as to how great a shock his death was to Roelin.

Keyumarus was half the reason that Roelin was refusing to marry, and remain a ‘girl’. Although the other half of the reason was to protect her wealth.

At any rate, she was the daughter of the man she had loved. Roelin must have some strange mixed emotions.

“I can’t believe my princess is alive, the great god Aquilla must have protected you. I do not know how to express my emotions.”

“Your highness. Please stop. I am only a lowly member of the demon race.”

Kalione did not know what to do as Roelin, who was one of the very few elite demon kings (queens), bowed before her. However, to Roelin, Kalione was the daughter of the lord that Roelin had once served. She stepped forward and swore an oath.

“My princess. I swear to you that I will do everything I can to help you to recover the authority that was rightfully yours!”

“Your highness!”

“Your highness, no, that’s not appropriate. Just address me as Roelin. My princess.”

Things have surely turned in unexpected ways. I asked as something just came to my head.

“Did you see?”

I was referring to whether she had seen the execution of the art of the proclamation. It was a very important secret that couldn’t be revealed. The demon kings of the empire would stir up if the word about Kalione having possessed the art of proclamation gets out.

“I saw it.”

Roelin nodded her head. No wonder that that would explain why even the doubtful Roelin believed that she was Keyumarus’ daughter. Additional proof would be meaningless, now that she has seen the video and the art of proclamation.

“Now you’ve no choice, but to be on the same boat. Roelin, your highness.”

“I’ll be happy to do so.”

Kalione looked over to me as if to ask what she was supposed to do. I nodded my head because I knew Roelin’s character as well as her past, very well. Then Kalione, too, made up her mind.

“Alright. I’ll accept your help.”

I fell into a thought while seeing the two women holding their hands. It was a good thing. That was because one unified power was forming with the heroes like them were coming together.

Of course, that power must stay in my hands.

*****

Now that I’ve won the dirty mud fight, it is time to reap the rewards. I contacted Kubalt, the spy king, with my ring.

-Good to hear from you! I was about to get in touch with you, too! So, what the heck’s been going on! And why did you go there! What is your relationship with the demon dragon!

Kubalt was highly excited. I understood him as the empire has fallen into a state of chaos. In an attempt to hide his scandal while hosting a party by inviting other demon kings and the human feudal lords, he tried to kill them all by engulfing them in fire. It was truly an unprecedented incident.

-I called to explain that.

Criticisms percolated from everywhere. Considering how loud the rumor was, what has actually been told was free for all. Everyone was saying anything since there was no accurate information. So, I said that I was going to provide the trustworthy information.

-Oh, oh! Appreciated.

-It will be 20,000 Florins.

Of course it wasn’t for free. The spy king Kubalt became appalled at the high price.

-Uuuuk! Isn’t it kind of expensive?

-Is it expensive? This is a chance to sell the information on a one to one basis?

He had no other recourse. He had to agree to my terms…

-Ah…Got it. I’ll pay.

It was very lucrative. After all, I got paid a great deal of money, like 20 thousand Florins, just by sharing what had happened that day.

-I’ll explain what had transpired.

I told him everything in clear details. Of course, anything that would be problematic for me was made up and I lied. It was my own subordinates who had actually started the fire in the hall, but I changed it to the demon king Odgarsh as having had given that order.

-He was pushing it too far.

-That’s right. As his scandal was revealed, he wasn’t in a good frame of mind.

I even explained the situation with Kalione, too. Very briefly on purpose though. Of course, I left everything out about the art of proclamation. Then the spy king Kubalt became anxious as his voice sounded nervous.

-Tell me more about her. She is a very important person in all this, right.

-That will cost an additional 30 thousand Florins.

-What! I mean, you! 20 thousand Florins are not enough that you ask for more money!

I anticipated such a response. However, in situations like this could easily be solved by throwing additional bonus item.

-By the way, the demon king Odgarsh has died.

-What! No! Is that true!

The spy king Kubalt truly seemed surprised. Although I couldn’t see him at this moment, I would guess that he would have jumped up from his seat?

-If you agree to give me the additional 30 thousand Florins, I would tell you everything about the hidden history, and about the death of the demon king Odgarsh.

In fact, this information was quite important, but it was something that I wanted to start fanning out from my side, first.

Hence, I have contacted the spy king Kubalt. I wanted to sell it for a high price, and simultaneously spread the rumor. Once he buys the information for big bucks, I reckoned that he would try to sell them to influential personalities.

-Aaaah… Crying out loud. Alright. Will pay the additional 30 thousand Florins! Gosh, you are taking me to the cleaners.

The total sum was 50 thousand Florins. This is a great deal of money, since the palace budget for the imperial family was 500 thousand Florins. So it was as much as 10 percent of the imperial family’s palace budget.

-First, Keyumarus was killed unjustly in the past. There was demon kings’ wicked plan….

From that point on, all the way to the point of the death of Odgarsh, the demon king, was explained to him. Only that as I had to hide the thing about the art of proclamation, I made it sound like that the demon king was killed by Schwartztoyel and me.

-Impressive! You’ve killed him! I can’t say enough how great your abilities are.

-That’s not it. The demon dragon has done most of the work. I only lend a hand.

-The fact that you’ve interjected yourself into the fight itself is tremendous. I’m impressed.

That was how I sold the information which was made to be more advantageous for me for 50 thousand Florins. The spy king Kubalt, of course, flipped that information to the feudal lords and other demon kings, all around.

As the information that he dealt was always highly trusted, the buyers easily believed it. Eventually, a rumor began to spread all over the empire.

[The story of Kalione, the beautiful and poor princess]

People shed tears over her tragic story. And they were happy to hear that the demon king Odgarsh who has brought evil tragedy to her was dead.

People came to remember the names of Valler and Schwartztoyel who have served justice to the demon king Odgarsh.

As a result, the reputations of the demon dragon and I were rising up as high as the sky. Although I was only a mere swindler who sold inaccurate information, I was being praised as a hero, around the world.

However, there was one person who came forth, enraged. It was Tero, the demon king Odgarsh’s son, and the successor of Altfenberk.

Incensed and unnerved by all the criticisms directed at him from all around the empire, Tero declared war on us.

[Tero of Altfenberk has declared war on Schwartztoyel of Gloss Chrochner!]

The regional papers began to sell out like hot cakes, again. For a good measure, there was not a single quiet day in the 2 most recent weeks, in all the empire.

-Duke Valer. Tero has declared a war. Will you be OK?

I gave an assurance that I would take care of the issue of the embargo.

A discussion took place with Roelin on this topic. She had a concerned voice, but I was rather confident.

-More importantly, please send my regards to Countess Niederbayern. I assured her that I would take care of the issue of embargo, but there it’s been, unfortunately, delayed for days. Please tell her that there would soon be visible milestones.

-I’m in close contacts with Walpurgis. In fact, she wanted me to relay a message to you.

-Is that so?

I was delighted that there a message from Walpurgis.

-Everything here is fine, so no need to be concerned. Your name is often heard even in Landshut as your fame has been in an upward trend throughout the empire. I am glad to see that you are doing great work. However, as soon as your work is done, do pay me a visit. I miss you.

My heart raced when I heard the last words of Walpurgis.

-Please let the Countess Niederbayern know that I, too, miss her!

-Hohoho!

Roelin broke out into laughter.

-You can just call her Walpurgis when talking to me.

-Ah, right. However, that seems a bit embarrassing….

-Hohoho. It’s fun to talk to you. Duke Valer. However, can’t just be engaged in such pleasant conversations due to pressing issues.

That was true, but I was nonchalant.

-There will not be an immediate attack from Altfenberk.

-That is true. But, it cannot be overlooked, either. Everyone in the empire is watching you. That is how you and the demon dragon would respond. Do you have a counter strategy? Duke Valer.

Of course there was. It will be like killing two birds with a single stone.

-Yes, I am intending to mobilize the emperor Frantz the 4^th.

-Frantz the 4^th?

-Yes, I plan to ask him for a favor after bribing him in grand scale. The emperor would certainly want to interject in to this matter.

My intention was to transition the emperor’s economic sanction to Altfenberk from Roselant. Then I could address two problems.

First, I could put economic pressure on Odgarsh’s son who has conceitedly declared war. When he becomes squeezed financially, his war preparation would face a challenge.

With the mere fact of an economic sanction does mean that the demon king, who was not one of the emperor’s vassals, would be responsible for it. However the knight families of the empire would go crazy as they would lose their opportunity to legally steal.

The knights were like wild dogs. With any legitimate excuse, they would put their teeth on them without thinking about the future consequences. Altfenberk’s economic condition would be a big mess.

Tero must have resolved the territory’s chaotic situation, and declared war against us in order to secure the path for his succession, but he would be played by me and hugely embarrassed since he won’t even be able to depart for war.

-Ultimately, he will attempt to negotiate with us under humiliating conditions. I plan to teach that little rascal how much he would have to pay for blowing hot air.

Second, it will be possible to find a solution to Walpurgis’ dilemma. If the emperor who was the main figure in the privatizing plots steps away from it then the knight’s family of Rajter would suddenly become an island all by themselves.

-If the emperor did not have their backs, Rajter knight family is absolutely nothing. I’ll mobilize at the right time and will scrape up the bastards’ land.

Roelin couldn’t help, but show her astonishment as she heard my step by step explanation.

-Ah! Duke Valer! You’re truly amazing.

-I’m glad that you agree with my approach.

-Just agree with it?

Roelin added with a meaningful tone for some reason.

-I can see a little bit as to why Walpurgis was head over hills for you.