“In the time of the previous Demon Lord, there were the Four Fiends, but there were no beings known as Demon Commanders. At the very least, no records surviving from the days of the ancient kingdom mention such a thing.”
“Huh?”
Wait, what? So then what are Demon Commanders? Hold on a second. I always thought it was weird that Demon Commanders could resurrect when the Four Fiends couldn’t. What if it was like I thought, and the “Demon Lord” isn’t some sort of being, but a position? Either he never had any intentions of reviving the Four Fiends in the first place, or he viewed the Demon Commanders as more important. Both cases led to the same conclusion: “The Demon Commanders are the current Demon Lord’s retainers.”
“Hmph…”
Huh? That was it? Just a “Hmph”?
“So then, you lack knowledge of the ancient kingdom.”
“What do you mean?”
“In the days of the ancient kingdom, they knew the shape of the whole continent. I assumed you had that same knowledge.”
“How old do I look to you?” With my focus fraying and my mind scarcely there, I accidentally blurted out those words. He ignored me. Happy that he did, I added another question. “Do you know a lot about the ancient kingdom?”
“I once researched their magic devices.”
That was right. I kind of recalled that being his backstory. He might know a lot about their techniques too. If that was true, I had a lot I wanted to ask him. At the very least, if he had any documents from the ancient kingdom, I wanted to take a peek.
Oldman Uwe was once the king’s tutor. He might have gotten to read the royal family’s top-secret documents. I didn’t even know if those existed in the first place, but now, I was dying to know. Still, if I asked about it, I had a feeling I’d have to cough up some things about me as well.
“You have already shared some of your thoughts,” Oldman Uwe said, pulling me out of my own thoughts, “but did you find an answer as to why that Demon Commander left a body behind?
I did, at least, have an idea. It was a bit different from my first guess, or really, that was still half the right answer if you were going easy on the grading. Basically…
“That body was a trap.”
“Indeed. I do believe it is best if I keep that black gem from your hands.”
That’d really help me out. If I had it, it’d either explode or possess me, and both those possibilities had me shivering. I knew that I was Gezarius’s target, but now I saw that he was willing to try to get to me no matter what it took.
He must have really lost it during that last attack. The Demon army—or maybe even the Demon Lord himself—probably didn’t think that humans could toy with a Demon Commander to that extent. They might have jumped to the conclusion that I was strong enough to defeat a Demon Commander. Well, maybe not that last one. My head really was feeling fuzzy.
“Hubertus instructed us to simply observe if the knight brigade proved strong enough to defeat the Demon Commander, but once he broke down Anheim’s gate, we simply had to join the fray.”
“I…see.” He even calls the crown prince by just his first name? Well, he probably has permission.
“I do believe the Demon army but recently set their eyes on you.”
“Right…”
“If not, that Demon Commander would have surely targeted you sooner. He must have returned to the Demon Lord for a short time. It would be there that he devised his ploy.”
It was true that I also had my doubts that I had perhaps given them too much time and wondered why they hadn’t interfered sooner. So that was part of their own strategy.
But that meant the Demon Commander was okay with losing. Could a vassal to the Demon Lord really have that kind of attitude? Something wasn’t adding up. Was I missing something?
“Then let us return to my first question. What are you, that you should know the map of this continent and be a target of the Demon army?”
“Well…” I was pretty sure the biggest reason was that I was good friends with Mazel. Up until now, I hadn’t told anyone about my memories of my past life. So just how should I answer?
“Lying is futile.”
“Do you have that sort of magic?”
“Currently, it is only the Demon army who knows the whole geography of this continent. I must be wary of you. If you have no knowledge of the ancient kingdom, then what are you?”
Ugh. I really did seem suspicious. I didn’t know exactly why the Demon army was after me, but I didn’t have anything I could use as evidence to deny that the Demons were just pretending to target me if that was what Oldman Uwe was suggesting. He was literally asking for the devil’s proof.
Even if lying didn’t work, he might just think I was spewing delusions. Well, whatever. I was too tired to think. “You might not believe me, but I have the memories of someone else.”
I wasn’t quite speaking proper English, but I didn’t feel like fixing that. Still speaking in slang, I explained the parts of my memories that pertained to this world. He probably wouldn’t understand the word “video game,” so I instead just called it a “story” and explained that’s how I had heard about Mazel’s journey. I told him that I had shared the map because I feared an attack on the capital—or really, as I clarified, that such an attack was inevitable.
“But things are definitely a bit different from what I remember. There was no Demon Commander Gezarius in the story I know.”
“Did you appear in that story?”
“No.”
“Hm…”
He was pondering something. Wait, was I one of the reasons the story changed? I didn’t regret anything, but just how did we get here? When did the story change?
“What was the name of that tale?”
“Huh?”
“I wish to know the name of the tale you read of Mazel’s journey.”
The name? Huh? Wait.
Just what was the title?