Part 52:
The Miner Fills the Empty Hole in the Demon Generals’ Roster
“ANSWER ME, fake princess! Just who exactly are you?!”
Catria pointed her sword at the woman standing in the midst of the agitated crowd.
The princess laughed sweetly and elegantly raised the hem of her princess dress in a curtsy. “I’m the leader of my elder brother Zeleburg’s Eight Demon Generals, Elise of the Reflection. And—” A smile flashed across her face. “I’m also your mistress, Princess Lithisia.”
Elise giggled happily, utterly like the real Lithisia once had.
“I mean, I am, to be sure, the Demon of Reflection who serves Zeleburg. But with just one strand of someone’s hair, I can perfectly copy their personality, even
their memories. In that sense, I am in truth also the real Princess Lithisia. Do you understand what this means, Knight Catria?” She winked and smiled again, the very same innocent smile that Lithisia used to share with Catria.
Used to.
“No, you’re wrong!!!” Catria shed tears of blood. That’s right…! Lithisia used to be just like this! “But during our journey… Ah…ah, my princess! What happened to you?!”
“Ah, I understand now. In the months since I first began this masquerade, she’s changed, hasn’t she?”
“Changed? You call that change?! It’s more like evolution! No, Shovelution!”
“Pardon?” The fake had no idea what Catria was talking about. She blinked innocently, an action completely uncorrupted by the shovel.
In her heart, Catria desperately wanted to trade in the real Lithisia for this one.
“Knight Catria, you appear to be rather confused.”
“Yes, you’re right. I can say with certainty that on this journey of mine, no one in all of humanity has been as confused as myself.” It was the only way she had managed to stay uncorrupted.
“Hrm. In other words, you hate Zeleburg for taking over the country so much that it’s thrown you into confusion? Ah ha ha!”
“No, not at all, actually.”
“Hee hee, still trying to act tough, I see.”
No, Catria was being completely earnest. But Elise didn’t seem to understand (how sad).
“Then how about I confuse you even further, Knight Catria?” Elise asked.
“What…?”
“Have you ever asked yourself why a lord of Hell like the great demon Zeleburg would go out of his way to conquer a tiny kingdom like Rostir? Let me educate you. Once you understand the true extent of his ambition, you will fall into indescribable despair, and undoubtedly you will beg me to let you serve us.” It appeared Elise had grown fond of Catria, probably because the lady knight had seen through her façade. “Listen well!”
And so Elise explained a tale of the heavenly and demonic realms. Long ago, the two had forged the “Astral Pact,” in which they swore to never invade the surface world. This pact, however, would soon reach the end of its agreed upon time limit. To prepare for the inevitable upcoming war between realms, Hell’s greatest demon lord delegated Zeleburg to be her representative and tasked him with preemptively taking control of the nations on the surface.
“Hell’s greatest demon lord?”
“Precisely. My elder brother is none other than—” Elise leered proudly. “Lord Asmodeus’s representative!”
Silence.
“Asmodeus, huh?”
Another five seconds of silence passed.
Elise frowned unhappily. “What’s up with you? Don’t you even know who Lord Asmodeus is? How could you be so ignorant?”
“No, that’s not it. I just…” Catria winced. Well, she had just met Asmodeus down in Hell not a few days ago. Asmodeus had even given Catria a present.
But Catria couldn’t say that out loud, as she felt way too bad about it, considering how proud Elise seemed to be of her master. Frankly, she wasn’t entirely unlike how Catria had been about Lithisia when she first met Alan.
“Hee hee hee, and that’s not all! This is a secret, but Zeleburg’s aim isn’t just to carry out Asmodeus’s design! My elder brother plans to use the coming ‘Holy War’ to dethrone Lord Asmodeus using his trump card!”
“Trump card?”
“Correct. That’s why he targeted Rostir!” Elise smiled proudly again. “We discovered that beneath Rostir sleeps an ancient demon from the heavenly era.”
“Really?”
“Yes! Certainly you know this demon’s name. I know it appears in your holy scriptures.” Elise spread her hands and proudly declared, “The King of Hell, Demogorgon!”
Silence. Another five seconds passed.
Catria had indeed seen this name in holy scriptures—the Great Demon Demogorgon from the heavenly era. But she had also heard its name more recently. In fact, it had been said back when she first started traveling with Alan.
When was it again? Ah, didn’t he mention it when he was explaining the Wave Motion Shovel Blast? Catria frowned. “Erm… the Alter Genesis of Amber, I think?”
“WHAAA?!” Elise’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “H-h-how do you know about Alter Genesis?!”
You mean he was telling the truth?
Back during the assault on Alice’s castle, Alan had explained how he had sealed away the Demogorgon. At the time, Catria had screamed it was a lie, but now she had no choice but to believe him.
As Catria came to terms with her own memories, Elise cast an ominous gaze at the knight.
“Knight Catria… I like you quite a bit. Yes, yes, I do!” Her eyes sparkled, not unlike those of the real princess, and her smile shone with fighting spirit. “How could you know Hell’s greatest secret? I’m going to make you swear fealty to me no matter what!”
“Make me? How?”
“By taking the last of Lithisia’s memories and becoming the one true princess!”
“What—no, you can’t!” Catria flew into full-throttle panic. This was the one thing Elise absolutely could not do.
“Oh, what’s this? So your memories with the princess are in fact important to you. Hee hee.”
“No, that’s not it! It’s too dangerous! You can’t do this! You’re playing with fire!”
“Yes, yes! That’s exactly the expression I wanted to see on your face! Let me drink up your loyalty toward your mistress!”
But Catria wasn’t concerned for Lithisia’s safety. No, she was in fact worried about Elise—especially as, if Elise were successful, it wasn’t like the old Lithisia would disappear. There’d just be two Shovel Princesses at once.
The Holy War? Ha! The world would end well before that if Elise succeeded!
“Please, I’m begging you! I want you to stay who you are!” Catria pleaded.
The old princess was right here, right in front of her. No matter what happened, Catria didn’t want her to get corrupted.
“Mm, wh-what’s with that concerned look?” Elise was displeased. She thought she might even detect affection in Catria’s gaze.
On the outside, Elise looked just like Lithisia, absolutely beautiful. And with that thought, Catria began to plot. She had to tear Elise away from Zeleburg at all costs. Perhaps she might actually be able to replace the original princess.
“You’re quite odd, but your strength is true. Fine.” Elise cleared her throat. “Dragon Slayer Catria, a hero such as yourself is worthy of joining the ranks of the Eight Demon Generals. Thanks to a battle against Beelzebub, we happen to have two spots open. We just filled one earlier, but I’ll make sure to leave the other open just for you!”
“Anything but filling, please.” An immediate answer, primarily because filling was related to shovels.
“Hee hee hee, I’m looking forward to the future… Ah, right!” Elise snapped her fingers and a crack in space suddenly appeared. “I’m quite busy, so I’ll leave you with a gift.”
“A gift?”
“I’ll leave the rest to the seventh member of the Eight Demon Generals. Don’t worry, Catria. I know you’ll put up a good fight.” Elise faded into the mist, a princess-worthy smile on her face. “Take care not to die… Not until the day I become your true Princess Lithisia.”
And so Elise disappeared, leaving only Catria and a rift in space behind.
“I have to stop her!” Under no circumstances could Catria let Elise become like the real Princess Lithisia.
With that in mind, Catria pointed her sword at the crack in space. One of the Eight Demon Generals would soon arrive, but she’d be okay.
I defeated a dragon! As long as it’s not a shovel, I can take down any monster that comes my way.
Just as she thought that, a familiar sword-tipped shovel appeared through the crack.
“Pardon?”
Followed by a familiar man. In other words, it was just Alan.
“…”
“Mm, shwarp successful.” Alan smacked his shovel against the crack and filled in the space. (How?!) He then turned to face the dragon slayer. “Catria, sorry for bothering you in the middle of your banquet, but I’ve come with intel.”
A few seconds of silence passed.
“Um, Elise told me I was about to face the seventh member of the Eight Demon Generals,” said Catria.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Don’t ‘that’s me’ me!”
“Trust me, I haven’t betrayed you or anything,” Alan continued. “There just happened to be an open post, so I filled it with my shovel.”
“Stop doing that.”
“At the end of the day, the best way to gather enemy intelligence is always gonna be to infiltrate their ranks. Now I know Zeleburg’s objective and overall combat strength.”
“I said: Stop doing that.”
“His goal is to revive the Demogorgon I once sealed away and—what’s wrong, Catria?”
Everything and nothing.
Catria looked up at the heavens. She recalled Elise’s pure smile, and, for some reason, tears once more began to stream down her cheeks.
Please, please let her stay uncorrupted, Catria pleaded.
This was probably impossible.