126 – Coward’s Trolling
A small rebellion led by several small nations and some factions of the church. After hearing the news, the group left the forest and quickly headed toward the imperial capital.
“Master! Come again and practice together!!”
The group heads to the imperial capital after seeing off Lilu, an elf girl waving her hand in regret.
“Is she okay?”
“…Luckily, there is no life-threatening injury, but you will need to rest for a while.”
The young priest, Elena Melott, was an apprentice priest who worked at the headquarters of the World Tree Church.
However, when the Pope learned that some factions within her church were plotting a revolt against her in connection with her minor states, he asked her for her message, and she left her church and left her country. I went looking for a companion.
Meanwhile, she was discovered by the leading faction of the rebellion, and is said to have been seriously injured by her pursuers.
Fortunately, she escaped somehow, but her wounds were severe, and she almost collapsed due to her head not working properly and her consciousness becoming clouded due to her wounds.
But she walked blindly, following the small warm light that seemed to be guiding her, and at the end of it she encountered the elves.
…It is clear that the world tree, Yggdrasil, must have led her. Cheney decided that way.
After arriving at the imperial capital, the party went straight to the emperor to understand the situation.
The sight of officials moving around inside the castle showed that the situation was bigger than expected.
When I met the emperor and heard the details of the situation, it was a truly embarrassing situation.
The reason was none other than checks on the empire.
When this continent fell into chaos due to the invasion of the Demon King’s army ten years ago, the Empire became a powerful nation and the focal point of all countries.
As the representative of the allied forces of all countries, he took the lead in the fight against the Demon King’s army.
The losses were great, but even after defeating the Demon King’s army and restoring (temporary) peace, the empire’s presence was significant.
Because the Demon King was still sealed, the alliance itself continued to exist in a different form, and the Empire exercised considerable influence within the alliance.
That was the reason.
They were people who did not believe that the Demon King was alive and was only sealed.
Even after the war ended, they were afraid that the empire would abuse their position as representatives to exert influence over them.
Of course, the empire had no particular influence over them, but things changed just recently.
This is the story after Cheyney found a way to completely defeat the Demon King and reported it to the emperor.
The emperor fully trusted her story and asked her to cooperate with her countries to help her.
As the time for the Demon King to be released from his seal is approaching, each country is asked to join forces and cooperate.
In that cooperation, there was provision of magical power managed by the state.
The method that Cheney discovered required an enormous amount of mana.
Even if the Empire used all of its recovered magical power, it would not be enough.
Therefore, the emperor requested the provision of magical power from each country.
Hearing this story, several small countries that did not believe in the survival of the Demon King and were suspicious of the empire rebelled.
The reason was that they thought they were planning to rob them of their magic power by deceiving them with nonsense.
In addition, the faction within the church that equally did not believe in the survival of the Devil became their focal point and led the rebellion.
If you combine all the territories of those small countries, the area is almost comparable to that of an empire.
Its military power is also considerable.
From the empire’s point of view, it’s like going crazy and jumping around.
And it was the same for Cheney.
Anyway, I heard from Yggdrasil that the demon king’s seal is being released faster, but in this situation…
In the end, a war between the empire and the coalition of small countries that broke away from the empire-led alliance and rebelled against it began.
The Emperor, the Pope, and even Cheyney tried to persuade them, but it was impossible.
They did not believe in the survival of the Demon King.
No, it seemed like he probably didn’t want to believe it.
I felt like I no longer wanted to think about the hell that was going on until a few years ago.
It’s like escaping from reality.
Since we were not in a situation where we were fighting, we initially planned to use our strength to counter the Demon Lord, even if it meant excluding them.
But, that was no longer possible.
The problem was that they had taken over the Devil Castle, the place where the Devil King was sealed.
Fortunately, the necklace had already been delivered through a member of the alliance who was working there before it was occupied, but it was impossible to deal with the Demon Lord unless they were resolved somehow.
It doesn’t matter if I don’t cooperate, so I asked to be allowed to enter the Demon King’s castle to deal with the Demon King, but even that was rejected.
“You guys could be intentionally trying to resurrect the dead Demon King. How can I believe that?!”
These were words spoken by church radicals who believed that the devil had already been exterminated.
No matter how much you think about it, it’s sophistry, but they seemed to believe that because they were already half out of their minds.
I tried talking to them several times, but it didn’t work.
In the end, the conclusion was reached that it would be better to eliminate them as quickly as possible and deal with the demon lord.
The war has begun.
No matter how small they were, the power that many small countries grew together to become huge was sufficiently threatening.
Although the Empire has a secret weapon named Cheyney, she only has one body.
It was difficult to cover all battlefields, and it was difficult to defeat them in a short decisive battle.
During this war, there was an encounter.
Olivia, a mercenary girl whom Cheney and Leos met when they were working as a duo of mercenaries.
Perhaps it was because she was growing up, but after growing up a bit, she was hired by the empire as a mercenary.
“Mr. Leos! It’s been a while!!”
Beside her, who was still greeting me with a lively voice, stood a tall figure with dark red hair.
It was hard to tell because she was wearing full armor, but her voice indicated that she was a woman.
“Kalydos Lewin. Please call me Kali.”
Her behavior was as if she was serving Olivia rather than her companion; in fact, she was Olivia’s bodyguard who served her when she was a noble lady.
Previously, when she was acting separately for a while, she did not meet Olivia because she challenged Leos, but then she found out about it after Olivia got beaten up by Leos due to her duel, and stayed by her side. They said it was always attached.
“Last time, the young lady was very rude.”
“…No, we accepted the duel for a purpose, so there is no problem.”
“Then, Mr. Leos, while we’re talking about it, I want to take revenge for the duel we had before…”
“…Lady?”
“…I want to try it next time. Ahahahahaha!!”
… These were two people who could roughly judge who was superior.
Although they were in a special position, both Cheyney and Leos participated in the war as mercenaries, so they often acted together.
It was one day during the war when I became close with them and naturally acted together.
The situation was turning in favor of the empire.
No matter how big their combined forces are, the empire is even bigger.
Out of the five magic towers, three magic towers supported the empire, excluding the White Magic Tower, a new magic tower owned by Cheini.
On the other hand, the green magic tower that was created not long ago did not trust Cheyney and supported the alliance of small countries.
And they are the Allied Forces, which lack unity in the chain of command, but the Imperial Army is different.
Even on the empire side, there was a big variable called the warrior Cheyni.
“You’re a hero! Retreat!!”
Chaney has enormous power as a warrior and can use a wide range of powerful magic.
Of course, there were quite a few people who used magic in the Small Nations Alliance, but Cheyney was on a different level from them.
“Bah…Bal…”
“My body isn’t moving! Someone help me!!”
Due to the magic used by Cheney, ordinary soldiers without magical power cannot move their bodies.
Taking advantage of that opportunity, the empire’s soldiers subdue and capture them.
Sometimes there were people who had magical powers and could break Cheyney’s binding spell, but they were few in number.
There were only those who could not even think of resisting the imperial army and simply surrendered or ran away.
After about half a year, we somehow managed to push back the coalition of small nations and secure the road to the Demon King Castle.
In order to secure the Demon King’s Castle and deal with the Demon King, a blitz operation was carried out to attack the Demon King’s Castle with a small number of elite soldiers.
It was similar to the time many years ago, when I was advancing towards the Demon King’s Castle with my friends as a warrior.
It is very similar to leading only party members and a few soldiers to the Demon King’s Castle.
The other thing is that, unlike back then, it is not a forest infested with monsters and demons.
Thanks to this, the speed of the advance was incomparably faster than before.
After a few days of marching, the Demon King Castle began to come into view in the distance.
From the front, a group of people could be seen approaching.
It was a time when everyone was on guard and raised their weapons, fearing that it might be an enemy soldier.
Leos shouted loudly.
“Mr. Mayril?!”
A woman at the head of the group.
He was none other than one of the employees dispatched from the Empire to manage Leivinia at the Demon King’s Castle as part of the Alliance.
Before the war began in earnest, she briefly returned to the Empire and received her necklace from Leos, promising to deliver it to Leivinia.
Hearing Leos’ voice, people came running, led by Mayril, who checked them.
And upon seeing their appearance, the group felt relieved.
They were none other than employees of the alliance in charge of managing the Demon King’s Castle.
“Everyone!!”
May Lil, who was familiar with the group except Olivia and Carly Doss, came running with a happy face.
“Meilil, you’re safe! What happened…?”
Hearing Cheney’s words, Mayril took a deep breath.
Obviously, they had been attacked by a coalition of small nations while managing the Demon King Castle and had lost contact.
“Actually…”
According to May Lil, they were detained, but her life was saved.
Because they were civilians, not soldiers, the Alliance of Small Nations would not have had any intention of killing them.
The small country alliance knew nothing about the Demon King Castle, so they only placed surveillance and left them to still manage the Demon Castle.
They stayed calm despite being told that if they tried to do anything suspicious, they would be summarily executed.
Then one day, something strange happened.
The people who were always stationed around the Demon King’s Castle to watch over them suddenly stopped coming.
After the guard who was waiting for the guard shift left them behind, he also did not return.
They stayed there for a while because they thought something was suspicious, but something prompted them to escape from the castle.
Fortunately, after escaping from the castle, we moved around without incident for a few days, and then we encountered something like this.
As she continued to explain, May Lil opened her eyes wide and clapped her hands.
“Oh, look at my mind!”
Mayril looked back at Leos and said.
“Leos, your mother woke up. She fell asleep again, but we escaped with her.”
“…What?!”
…For Leos, and indeed for the group, these words were like a bolt from the blue.
Of course, Leivinia’s awakening is a very happy thing for both Leos and Chaney.
But the fact that Leivinia woke up spoke of another fact.
“…The Demon King’s seal has been released.”
Chaney said that with a blank face.