Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 259

I had talked with Harriet and Ellen.

But that wasn’t the end of it. I had to explain to Eleris about why I knew about the Black Order and how I knew about Cantus Magna. My actions had shown that I knew things I shouldn’t have.

Sarkegar had an issue with Ellen, but he didn’t consider the Black Order a problem. He could easily find his own reason as to why I was reaching out to new power.

However, while Sarkegar might be fine, Eleris was not.

I had been stirring up trouble, and now I was trying to approach the Black Order.

Given the dangerous path I was treading, it would be hard to believe that I wasn’t dreaming of rebuilding the Demon Realm.

Sarkegar seemed almost pleased with this, so there was no need to speak with him.

However, I had to somehow resolve the situation to prevent Eleris, my greatest ally, from possibly becoming my enemy.

The next day, I left the Temple and went to Eleris’s semi-basement room.

Eleris’s demeanor was very different from usual.

Unlike her usual bright greeting, Eleris was staring at me with a stern expression.

If Eleris intended to kill me, I wouldn’t be able to stop her.

“I’m afraid.”

“Your Highness, you seek to contact the Black Order, and then you come to see me directly in this situation, yet you say that you’re afraid. That fear can’t be genuine.”

“I really am afraid.”

“...”

Eleris stared at me silently.

“I thought you might bring Loyar or Sarkegar with you. But you came alone...”

In the dimly lit semi-basement, even without it being night, Eleris’s powers would be at their peak. Eleris, who could kill me even under the blazing midday sun, would have no trouble killing me in this environment.

“Your Highness, you are a peculiar person.” I could see the emotion in her eyes. “I can’t understand why you would try to ally with a dangerous group like the Black Order and yet risk your life to protect a child like Ellen.”

She seemed completely unable to understand me.

“Your Highness, whatever you’re dreaming of, you trust me too much... You shouldn’t. If you’re dreaming of rebuilding the Demon Realm, you should distance yourself from me. Even if that isn’t your dream, your trust in me is excessive. Why... Why do you trust me so much? You don’t even know me well.”

Eleris’s tone was pleading, and she looked on the verge of tears.

Although there had been some friction with Sarkegar, he could never kill me. He ultimately had to comply with my demands, and while he found Ellen’s existence hard to tolerate, at the moment, he couldn’t touch her.

But Eleris was different.

Eleris continually harbored suspicions and concerns that I might be dreaming of war and the reconstruction of the Demon Realm.

Eleris was a difficult subordinate to manage. A subordinate who could kill me at any time if my intentions clashed with her values.

There was no reason to keep such a subordinate close, yet I had always favored Eleris. She couldn’t understand why.

The trust between Eleris and me had now cracked.

Now that I had reached out to the Black Order, Eleris would never believe my claims of wanting peace.

Just while she had to be contemplating what to do with me, I had shown up alone, almost as if asking to be killed. Her confusion was understandable.

When I had first fallen into this world, I had been stressed out, having no idea what was going on. Meeting Charlotte had reassured me, but I was still lost, even in the imperial capital.

When all I had been worried about was surviving to see the next day, I’d met Eleris.

In a world full of humans, I met someone who had to be on my side.

It felt like finding an oasis in the desert. Meeting Eleris back then felt like salvation.

So, regardless of what Eleris truly was, my heart naturally leaned towards her.

“I’ve never lied,” I said as I looked at Eleris calmly. “I’m not interested in rebuilding the Demon Realm, nor am I interested in war.”

Eleris looked unconvinced. Of course, she wouldn’t believe me. Claiming to be a pacifist while constantly stirring up trouble was just too much.

I knew that bringing Eleris to Aaron Mede’s house would lead to this situation.

This moment was inevitable.

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Eleris now had a very important role to play.

“If I told you I know the future, would you believe me?”

“... Sorry?”

I intended to tell Eleris about the future.

***

“I know the future.”

Eleris was taken aback, not knowing how to react to my sudden statement.

I wanted to tell others as well, but I couldn’t.

It would require having to explain too many other things, some of which could never be revealed.

Still, I wanted to tell at least one person, and that person was Eleris. To be precise, I wanted to eliminate the last bit of distrust Eleris had towards me.

I wanted to make Eleris truly my ally. An ally who wouldn’t doubt me no matter what I did.

“Your Highness... what... what exactly are you saying?”

“I don’t know everything about the future. What I know are just a few major events that will happen. And I can’t predict the future, since it changes in real-time.”

It was difficult to explain in detail. She wouldn’t believe me if I told her I was practically the creator god of this world, and I didn’t want to say that either.

I didn’t know this place at all. It was a house built by others, on the foundation I had laid. I knew the framework, but I still did not comprehend the fully-completed world.

“My knowledge of the Black Order and Cantus Magna are things I knew beforehand. You know, I have no reason or way to know about such things.”

“Your Highness... are you saying you’re someone from the future?”

“Not exactly, but it’s something similar.”

This was probably the kind of situation where the phrase “the plot thickens” was most appropriate. Eleris looked at me as if she was convinced that something was seriously wrong with my head.

“You won’t be able to believe it, and it won’t make sense, but just listen,” I continued.

It would take too long to answer each question Eleris might have. For the moment, Eleris remained silent.

“I don’t have much evidence to present. The important thing is, in two years, warp gates across the entire continent will suddenly connect to another world, and because of that, a lot of people will die.

“I call this the Gate Incident. I don’t know the exact cause of it, but if left unchecked, hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people will die.

“Right now, the only thing I can think of that could cause such a thing is magic. That’s why I’m trying to find clues in the magical realm. Organizations like the Black Order or Cantus Magna might be the cause of this event, or they might know how to prevent such a thing from happening, so I’m trying to contact them.

“I’m trying to expand my influence now as well, because if things don’t go well later on, I might have to take drastic measures such as destroying all the warp gates on the continent.

“That may be one of several possibilities. Looking ahead, I need to be capable of many things.

“Yeah, it’s hard to believe, and I know you might be suspicious about why I know such things. Now, ask your questions.”

I wasn’t someone who could come and go freely. That was why I needed Eleris to act on my behalf.

Eleris could use Teleportation, so she was the only one around me who could execute my most important orders immediately and accurately.

Eleris had to believe that I’d either lost my mind, or that I was telling the truth. She remained silent for a very long time.

“Suddenly hearing such things... I’m not sure what to do...”

In the end, it seemed Eleris was finding it difficult to believe me.

“Yeah, I know it’s hard to believe. But at least understand that I don’t wish for war, or the extinction of humanity.”

She probably didn’t believe that either.

The Orbis Class had been dismantled, and I couldn’t use the minor events happening within the Temple as evidence.

But I did know a few certain things about the future.

“Do you remember that club I mentioned creating?”

“Yes, you created something called the Magic Research Club and even became its president...”

“Very soon, they will create something astonishing.”

Eleris seemed surprised by that.

Eleris already knew about the Magic Research Club from what I had told her. She had been surprised that I, who knew nothing about magic, was its president.

She also knew about the things we were trying to create there, but like the others, Eleris had been skeptical.

That’s why Eleris had told me about the method of manifesting magic using ambient mana.

“Could it be...”

“Yes, I knew they would create such items in the future. That’s why I’ve been pushing them to make them in advance.”

Power Cartridges and Moonshine...

If the students managed to create those two items, Eleris would start to believe that I knew the future to some extent.

“And, although the future has changed substantially, and I’m not quite sure how things will ultimately turn out, Alsbringer will choose its master. That master will be my classmate, Ludwig.”

Another certain future... The next master of Alsbringer after Ragan Artorius was going to be Ludwig.

Eleris was hearing the name Ludwig for the first time in her life.

“Ellen... Are you saying it won’t be her?”

“Yes.”

Now that she knew Ellen’s true identity, Eleris found it hard to believe that the next master of Alsbringer wouldn’t be her.

“In time, you’ll see. Whether I truly know the future or not.”

She might not believe it now, but as my words gradually come true, Eleris will have no choice but to acknowledge it.

Eleris seemed to sense something in my strange certainty.

That my words were true, perhaps, or at least that I wasn’t lying.

“Whether Your Highness received a divine revelation or something, I can’t say... but it’s something I find hard to believe...”

“I expected that reaction. That’s why I haven’t said anything until now. I’d just be treated like a madman.”

“...”

I didn’t know when the future I spoke of would come to pass. But Eleris seemed willing to wait until she could confirm that my words were true.

Until then, at least, she would still be my ally.

“Telling me this... That means I have a role to play, doesn’t it?”

Eleris seemed resolute, and gave me a look of determination. “What do you need me to do?”

It seemed Eleris had decided not to turn away from me, at least for now.

“Listen carefully, and don’t misunderstand me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

This was where things got important.

“We need to rebuild the Demon Realm.”

Eleris let out an uncharacteristically high-pitched sound.

“... Excuse me?!”

Her shock was understandable. Having just said that I wasn’t dreaming of rebuilding the Demon Realm, I was suddenly talking about rebuilding it. It was a complete one-eighty.

Eleris, after a moment of surprise, regarded me with a serious expression. She seemed to think that all my strange talk had been leading up to this.

“To be precise, it’s not about actually rebuilding the Demon Realm, but making humans believe that it has been rebuilt.”

“I don’t quite understand what you mean...”

“With Ragan Artorius dead, if rumors begin to spread that the Demon Realm has been rebuilt, humans will be thrown into a state of fear. Right?”

“... Yes.”

The little senior, Rudina, had reacted like that previously.

If the Demon King was resurrected after Artorius’s death, who would kill the Demon King then?

The fear of the Demon King... If Ragan Artorius, the only one who was considered a match for the Demon King, was not around, the reappearance of the Demon King would terrify humanity.

Humans would be plunged into fear.

“We don’t have much time. Only two years, or rather, not even two years.”

The Gate Incident would occur at the start of the first semester of the third year, so it wasn’t two years; there was just a little over a year left.

“If we can’t eliminate the cause of the Gate Incident within that time, our fallback plan will be to destroy all the warp gates across the continent. That might lead to other issues, but it’s something we might have to do.”

“... That would be impossible.”

“Exactly.”

Destroying all the warp gates on the continent simultaneously would be impossible unless I controlled the whole empire itself.

But while I couldn’t control the empire, I could become its adversary.

Becoming someone’s enemy meant having influence over them.

“If we make them believe that the forces of the Demon Realm are invading human lands through the warp gates, what do you think will happen?”

Eleris’s eyes widened. “They will... seal off the warp gates themselves... Is that what you’re saying?”

“Even if they don’t destroy them, they will certainly fortify them.”

That wouldn’t solve everything, but it would significantly reduce the initial damage.

“So it’s an insurance policy. Just in case. We don’t actually need to rebuild the Demon Realm. It will be enough if we cause tension among the humans by insinuating that certain things are about to happen. And at the decisive moment, either me or someone else will claim that the forces of the Demon Realm are attacking through the warp gates,” I elaborated.

In reality, it wouldn’t be demons but otherworldly monsters coming through, but that didn’t matter. The humans would be prepared.

This was the contingency plan in case I failed to accomplish anything. For it to work, humanity needed to believe that the Demon Realm was being reconstituted and fear it.

Eleris looked at me with a stern expression.

“And you want me to take on that role?”

“Yes.”

Sarkegar and Loyar had other tasks to carry out, but Eleris hadn’t been assigned anything. Moreover, as a mage, she could travel across the continent in an instant, giving her unparalleled mobility.

I needed to entrust the task of “rebuilding the Demon Realm” to the one who least desired it. Of course, it wasn’t an actual rebuilding effort, but a pretense, with a different intention behind it.

I had an inkling that Eleris would end up taking on this task.

Eleris, too, seemed to accept this inescapable fate. “Yes, Your Highness. But if all of this... is a lie...”

If all of this was just a lie, would she consider killing me?

“I would be... very sad,” she continued.

Even in a situation where she couldn’t be sure whether to trust me, Eleris seemed unable to choose to hate me or harm me.

When Eleris first laid eyes on me in the imperial capital, it seemed like she wanted to kill me.

Was that just my imagination?

Now, Eleris seemed like someone who couldn’t harm a hair on my head.

Now that the main topic of discussion had been settled, there were still important matters left to address.

“But... when you say rebuilding the Demon Realm, where do we even start?” Eleris asked.

To begin spreading rumors of the Demon Realm’s reconstruction in the human world, we had to take some action, but Eleris seemed unsure where to begin.

“The core of the Demon Realm was annihilated, remember? But there were some who didn’t heed the Demon King’s call.”

“Oh... yes, that’s right.”

These were the demon factions on the outskirts of the Dark Land who did not respond to the Demon King’s summons.

“Let’s start by subjugating them.”

To take action, we needed actual power. Even if the reconstruction was just a facade, we needed some real strength to back it up.

We had to subjugate the remaining demon factions and bring them under our control.

The first target...

“The Vampire Council.”

“... Sorry?”

They had never been part of the Demon Realm’s forces to begin with.

“Gather them.”

That was the first thing we needed to do.

“If we lock the doors, and put a holy sword to their necks, they’ll swear a blood oath or whatever.”

Eleris looked startled.

I didn’t know if we could break the pride of those long-lived vampires, but a holy sword might be enough to force open their closed hearts.

After all, even Eleris had been intimidated when she first saw Tiamata, the ultimate weapon against the undead.

History had proven it. There was nothing like violence to open closed doors.