Ah, I see. My life is flashing before my eyes.
I accepted the memories flitting through my mind with surprising serenity.
The images that play out in my mind’s eye start with my childhood, move on to my adulthood, and reach the point of my working in the Demon Lord’s castle.
In accordance with my status as the eldest son of Duke Phthalo, an esteemed demon noble, I strode the path to success in life from a young age.
But I climbed the ranks because the demon race was in a dire shortage of staff, not because my hard work and capabilities had been acknowledged.
I am not saying this out of humility; indeed, I do believe I have worked harder than most.
However, I am equally confident that I fell short of the late Commander Agner of the First Army in every respect, my younger brother Bloe in physical might, Sixth Commander Huey in magical prowess, and Sanatoria in cunning.
The fact that I was overly successful despite being surrounded by people with superior skills is likely due in some part to my noble birth and the nature of the times.
Between the disappearance of the Demon Lord and the loss of much of the previous generation in the ongoing war with humanity, the demon race was simply shorthanded.
As such, I was not so much pleased with my promotions as I was utterly exhausted and swamped with work.
I devoted my every waking moment to restoring the battered remains of the demon race.
And that did not change even when the current Demon Lord took her throne.
In fact, I only became even busier.
All of my efforts toward internal affairs and replenishing the troops were sent back to square one when we were forced into a large-scale battle with the humans.
I found this shameful, of course, but I could not defy the Demon Lord.
Since we could never hope to win if we rebelled against her, our only option was to fight against the humans, against whom we at least stood a sliver of a chance.
In the end, that war was a draw.
Three commanders—Sir Agner, Huey, and my brother Bloe—were never to return.
I do not even wish to estimate the lives lost.
But many of humanity’s strongest were defeated, including their hero.
One thing is clear: There was significant damage to both sides.
All according to the Demon Lord’s plan.
The Demon Lord’s goal was not victory for demonkind.
She sought only for there to be as many deaths as possible, human and demon alike.
I finally understood why after hearing her speech in the world quest broadcast.
Even so, I have opinions of my own.
Demons have long fought against humanity.
Indeed, we have been at war as far back as the earliest recorded history.
It has gone on so long that our race was at the very brink of being beyond recovery.
All for the sake of this world.
To serve as its fuel.
To atone for the sins of those who once used a massive amount of MA energy to turn themselves into demons out of personal greed.
I do think it is unfortunate that all this still was not enough.
But I find it hard to forgive her for dismissing demonkind’s years of effort as “carefree” and declaring that she expects so little out of us.
If that is true, what have I worked so hard for all this time?
Why did Bloe have to die?
What of Sir Agner, and Huey, the many soldiers who died in that battle, and all those demons who died in all of history before then?
Is she saying that all of that was pointless?
And that she will take even more from us, as if she still has not taken enough?
When I relive the moment when I heard of Bloe’s death, when I cried alone in a room, I am filled with a terrible rage.
And the sequence of memories continues from there.
This next one was right after the world quest was announced.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What in the world is going on…?”
I hung my head in the meeting room.
All of these unprecedented events were taking place while the Demon Lord was away on business.
Of course I was in despair.
“Why are you asking us that, hmm?”
Sanatoria shook her head and sighed as she responded, looking unimpressed with my attitude yet equally perplexed herself.
There were a few other commanders in the room, too.
But some of them had perished in the previous battle, while others still were traveling with the Demon Lord.
That left only four of us here.
The Second Army Commander, Sanatoria.
The Third Army Commander, Kogou.
The Fifth Army Commander, Darad.
And, of course, myself.
This meeting, of course, was about the world quest announcement that we all suddenly heard.
What did it mean by telling us to either prevent or assist an evil god’s plot?
And what exactly is a world quest anyway?
Nothing like this has ever occurred in the history of demonkind, as far as I know.
“…Please tell me each of your opinions.”
I managed to squeeze out a question without raising my head.
“How? We don’t have nearly enough information to form an opinion. It all sounds like nonsense to me, and no amount of discussion will bring us any closer to the truth.”
Sanatoria’s opinion, as it were, was more than fair.
She was absolutely right.
✦ ✦ ✦
<World quest activated.
An evil god is plotting to sacrifice humanity in order to prevent the destruction of the world. You must either prevent this plot, or assist with it.>