Kuro no Maou

Chapter 51 Dead End

The territory of Daedalus begins from the eastern coastline of the continent and extends westwards till the Gallahad mountain range.

On the map of the Pandora continent, the Gallahad mountain range is placed slightly east of the centre of the continent. It extends towards the north and south in the form of an arc. A little further east from the centre of the mountains is our Irz Village.

Irz village is located on the western region inside the territory, and Daedalus is on the extreme eastern side. To go there, it will take about 1 week even with my legs.

And the destination this time, the Medea ruins, are located near that Daedalus. Travelling long distances is certainly difficult, but this is also something an adventurer cannot avoid. It’s a good thing I have body that won’t get tired even after walking continuously for 3 days and nights.

Adventurers that explore in the Medea ruins use a village known as Riol as the base camp, so I’m also aiming to go there.

Riol is also one of the villages located west of Daedalus.

Daedalus is the starting point of the five major highways. Among them, the biggest is the one leading to the port town in the south east (Virginia is located north-east), and the north-west one that goes through the Gallahad mountain range and leads to the city-state of Spada.

The former is to connect Daedalus to the port town flourishing with maritime trade and commerce, and the latter is made wide for the army to march through easily.

It was made wider to act as a route for the army when they eventually start a campaign in the centre of the continent, but the campaign hasn’t started yet, so it is currently being used by big carriages to travel between villages.

But the route I’m currently taking is the much smaller south-west highway. The neighbouring village of Kuar acts as key point of transport as both the north-west and south west highways connect there.

The road between Irz-Kuar is a part of the north-west highway but it’s the south-west highway that is directly connected to Riol village.

To enter the south-west highway from Irz, it was necessary to go to the adjoining Kuar village. It was a bit of a detour, but comparing the two highways, the south-west highway was a shorter route to Riol.

If I had a big carriage then I might have taken the north-west path, but all my items were inside my shadow space, and the only thing in my hands was the sleeping Lily, so it was obvious that I would chose the shortest one.

And so, without facing any problems, as I continued down the highway, I reached the last village before Riol. The name of the village was Enkul. It was a small peaceful village similar to Irz. Here I face an unexpected problem.

“Dead end? What do you mean by that?”

There was no problem in entering the Enkul village itself but the other gate leading to Riol was sealed shut. I had heard from Harry that entry and exit had been restricted but to think it had been completely stopped.

“There had been an order to seal all pathways leading to Daedalus. Even we don’t know when the release order will come.”

The gatekeeper told me.

He was an Orc dressed in black full armour. He had a face that would scare the shit out of anyone if someone sees him walking at night but he told me the situation quite politely surprisingly.

By the way I am not talking politely because I’m scared or anything, I made it a rule to talk like this with anyone when meeting them for the first time.

“Currently, Daedalus is in negotiations with the humans of Arc continent but its details are completely unknown.”(orc)

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“Then, it’s true that Daedalus is currently negotiating with humans?”(kurono)

“Yeah, no doubt about it. Before the blockading order came, both armies battled it out on the Goldran hill. They are currently talking about post-war treatments probably.”

“Was it such a large scale battle?”

“I don’t know what those humans were like but, the Daedalus army had the Dragon king leading 20,000 men after all. That and the outcome of the battle, who won or lost, is still unclear means that the humans must have at least a large army of 100,000.”

“The outcome is unclear........Daedalus army didn’t win?”

“Yes, although I didn’t hear that they lost either. It must have been close enough to be called a draw, that’s why it has become so troublesome now.”

Then that means that the higher ups of Daedalus decided not to declare anything to the public until the negotiations with humans are fully settled because the result of the war wasn’t very good.

It’s not impossible. After all, the Daedalus army that has been making light of the human army was made to face a draw, so they can’t just declare that to the public so easily either.

At least, the Orc gatekeeper and other villagers are of the same opinion.

But, for a moment, the worst situation possible situation came into my mind.

Could it be that the Daedalus army actually lost to them?

“You were going to the Medea Ruins right? Too bad but this also part of my job so I can’t allow you to go any further. Shouldn’t it be better to just abandon the quest and return back to your village?”(orc)

“.......I guess so. It’s a pity but I’ll go back.”(kurono)

As I looked for the Enkul village guild, I moved away from the gate.

Right now, I should just listen to the gate keeper and finish the formalities to abandon the quest.

“Kurono......”

Maybe because she read the anxiety in my heart or maybe it was shown on my face, Lily looked at me worriedly.

“It’s alright. Is what I want to say but I just can’t help but get this bad feeling—-“(kurono)

The Daedalus army tied with the Human army and this information has not yet been made official was the opinion of every village surrounding Daedalus including Enkul.

Well they were right in thinking that the government had decided not to declare the outcome of the war, but they were completely wrong about the details of that outcome.

Daedalus army had not tied with the Human army but had been completely defeated by them. Moreover, the dragon king Gaevinal had been killed as well.

Also, it was rumoured that they were in negotiations with the Human army but in fact Daedalus had already been completely occupied by the Crusaders that won on the Goldran hill.

Well then why did the human army, even after killing the dragon king and occupying Daedalus, had decided to seal all routes and information?

There are a few reasons.

Firstly, the representative of the victor Crusaders, Archbishop Liuchrome had demanded this from the Daedalus side. After the battle of Goldran, the Crusaders had just enough numbers to occupy Daedalus. He didn’t want this information about lack of forces to leak outside.

In case, they announced the occupation of Daedalus grandly then other units of the army located throught the territory or the armies of other city-states might invade Daedalus.

The remnants of Daedalus army might try to take revenge for the death of their dragon king and charge with the resolve to die an honourable death, and other city-states might see this as a chance to expand their territory by capturing Daedalus that was in the middle of chaos.

If the info about the lack of forces in the Crusaders were revealed, then the chances of both the parties attacking would become even higher.

Liuchrome thus decided to conceal information and instead gave away vague info like [Daedalus is negotiating with the Crusaders] to buy time for the reinforcements to come from their homeland. This was the truth behind the sealing and blockade of Daedalus, on surface the reason was to avoid confusion among the citizens.

Again, even the Daedalus side were resistant to declare that the dragon king had been killed in action.

It could be said that they were also wishing for this so as a result they quickly accepted Liuchrome’s demands, and the blockade was quickly applied.

Currently, approximately 1 month had passed after Daedalus had been occupied.

Everything went according to plan, no armies tried invading Daedalus, and the homeland sent reinforcements to Virginia one by one.

That’s not all. In this 1 month, Liuchrome took over all controlling rights, and along with the info manipulation, also kept the Crusades in check. Daedalus was in control without any chaos or revolts.

The church believers were all of the opinion that demons were meant to be exterminated, but Liuchrome who took calm and rational judgements did not rashly oppress all the other races that lived here and did not allow his subordinates to do so either.

He, even if the other party were enemies, did not enjoy ruthlessly massacring people. Indulging in such things will only satisfy the greed of the worthless scum and will also stimulate opposition from the citizens. From the point of view of a ruler, it had zero merits.

In controlling a defeated country, Liuchrome was truly humane as well as understanding, truly an ideal ruler.

But, the people of the church and republic were not all like him. In fact, people like Liuchrome were very rare existences, but the people of Daedalus did not know that.

He, who was here, was also the same.

“aah.......my lord, my king.........why........”

That voice echoed inside the empty throne room.

1 month ago, on that decorated throne, sat a man who had an overwhelming presence, truly a king.

The king’s name was Gaevinal, a black dragon with incredible abilities.

And the man who was here was a human who had been serving that dragon king even before Daedalus was founded.

As Gaevinal’s right hand man, he had become the Prime minister now.

“Why.........why did this........”

As the Prime minister who manages the country, he could not show his emotions in public, but right now that façade had been completely broken and tears were falling out of his eyes.

“uuu..........”

Till this day, he had directly negotiated with Liuchrome, as the representative of Daedalus.

Negotiation, were in name only. Daedalus that had lost had no other choice but to give everything away to the victors, that is the Crusaders.

All he could do was to ask for proper treatment of the citizens that had followed his respected and beloved dragon king.

“No more.......I have nothing else I can do.......”

Tomorrow, the blockades will be lifted, and finally the Crusaders would begin their genuine rule.

The death of the dragon king will be announced to all of the citizens and the country known as Daedalus would collapse and would be annexed into the Syncrea Republic.

Hereafter, he would either be executed after being charged with some crime or made to cooperate with the Republic.

In any case, he has one last duty to fulfil.

Today, on the last day of the Daedalus, he had finally reached his limits.

“My king.......”

In the first place, he had sworn to be with Gaevinal in life and death.

These were his true feelings.

To him, Gaevinal was an absolute existence, and he truly believed that he should have followed him the moment he heard of his death.

As a result, finishing all his duties, now that the country Gaevinal created was finally collapsing, he had lost all reason to live.

“I’ll be by your side........”

In this empty throne room, there was no one who could stop him.

In his left arm, he held a Gaevinal’s scale and in his right he held a container.

A brilliant red liquid was filled inside that container.

And, without any hesitation, he drank the red poison in a single breath.

“Gah——“

Instantly falling on his knees, he fell face front on the ground.

The poison quickly circulated inside his body, and in a matter of seconds, he passed away.

“All hail........Dragon king............”

Anyone who saw his current appearance would feel pity for him.

But the fact that he did not have to witness the gruesome trampling of the Daedalus territory that was going to start from here onwards, he might have been the most fortunate person.