“Welcome home, Aria. And you as well, Alma. You’ve come such a long way to see me—I’m sure there’s much you’d like to talk with me about. You must forgive me for trying to have you arrested so long ago. I merely wanted you to take some time to reflect after spouting such strange things. I never had any intention of actually having you executed. If nothing else, please believe me when I say that.”
“Please stop pretending to be my father.” Seira glared, flatly rejecting the man’s offer. “You are not King Sodom. You’re one of the Four Generals of the Demon King’s army—Baron. You can’t fool me with your silver tongue.”
“It’s so difficult dealing with daughters when they reach that rebellious age... How can I make you believe me? Shall we speak frankly and have a heart-to-heart discussion, then?” It seemed he was ready to pose as the King to the very end.
“No matter what you might say—I saw you actually consorting with a demon. That means that as a princess of this country, it’s my duty to slay you.” With that, Seira pointed her sword at King Sodom—indicating that it didn’t matter whether he was Sodom or Baron, she was going to cut him down all the same.
As soon as he saw this, the smile vanished from Sodom’s face, and he let out an exasperated sigh. His eyes glassed over in annoyance. “—For crying out loud. Such a cold reception for such a long-awaited reunion—couldn’t you at least pretend to be a little happy to see me?”
From somewhere beneath the skin on King Sodom’s face, an inhuman smirk—no doubt belonging to Baron himself—surfaced. It was enough to strike sheer reflexive fear into the heart of anyone who saw it.
Baron looked us over, his eyes eventually landing on Alma.
“Alma...I heard you had disappeared unexpectedly from our kingdom. I see you’re still alive—and you even managed to rejoin Aria and her friends. How fortuitous you’ve been,” Baron said. “Tell me—you didn’t happen to end up with a case of amnesia, did you?”
“Hm? How did you know that?” Alma blinked.
“Oh, that doesn’t matter. It just means things are working properly.”
What does he mean by that...?
Whatever he was insinuating, Baron turned his gaze to me once he was finished talking.
“So you are Sieg. How nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you—about how hard a time you’ve been giving my underlings for so long now.”
“So one of the Four Generals of the Demon King’s army knows who I am. I suppose I should be honored,” I spat. “But I don’t recall ever dealing with you. You never did any fighting yourself; you just sat back in a safe spot and watched the whole time, didn’t you?”
“Only a foolish general puts themselves on the front lines,” Baron responded. “I’ve been told you are the reason my incursions into Astaroth thus far have failed. You’ve foiled my plans not just once but twice. Color me impressed by your mettle.” He smiled gently as he said this, but his voice was laced with an unmistakable irritation.
“I don’t understand what you mean by ‘twice.’ I know the Sorcera soldiers were under your control, and you were pulling the strings from the shadows when they invaded us. Are you saying you were behind another incident as well?”
“Indeed I am. If you hadn’t been there, my first invasion would have ended in the resurrection of our dark lord. That one had some adventurer commanding a horde of our monsters—I believe his name was Nacht.”
“What did you say...?”
The scene in front of me began to sway, and I felt like I was about to lose my balance. Putting my unsteady breathing back into proper rhythm, I focused on maintaining control of my faculties as I asked him my next question.
“Did you just say...Nacht? So you were involved in his attack on Astaroth, then...?”
“Correct. I was the one who instigated him into attacking your royal capital—and turned him into a demon, as well. Though to be more precise, the subordinates I sent out were the ones who did that.”
Baron and everything else in my field of vision had gone red. I felt my temples throbbing; the blood rushing through my body was boiling. It felt as though my sense of reason was about to be swept away by the intense fury building up inside me.
So Baron was the one who tempted Nacht away from the path of humanity? This man was the one pulling the strings when Nacht took on a demon form, destroyed Estahl and killed so many people, then led an army of monsters in an attack on Astaroth?
If Baron hadn’t tempted him with power, Nacht might not have had to die. He might have been able to stay human.
It was all meaningless conjecture by that point, but I couldn’t help but think about it.
“To think that the one behind Nacht getting dragged over to the demon side was you all along...”
“Ah, I see—you were the comrade who was the source of Nacht’s inferiority complex, weren’t you? He chose to take on a demon form out of his intense desire to kill you, you know.” It seemed Baron’s memory had been jogged after seeing my response. “Such a powerful inferiority complex it was too. It was quite easy to convince him to turn, honestly. He did some excellent work as my pawn.”
“I’d stop talking now if I were you,” I warned.
I had to keep repeating to myself, Losing your cool in battle is like handing victory to your opponents. Otherwise, I risked falling into a mindless rage.
“Seira, apparently I have my own reason to take down Baron now,” I declared.
“Right,” she agreed.
We’ve got to take this bastard down right here, right now—as payback for Nacht too.
I unsheathed my sword and assumed a battle stance. Each of my comrades brought their weapons to the ready as well.
“You may think you have me cornered, but I’m afraid you’re the cornered ones here. Did you think a general wouldn’t have any other units hidden around him?”
A number of knights who had been concealed in the shadows stepped out in response to Baron’s call. I felt a powerful animosity toward us emanating from each and every one of them.
“Please, don’t do this!” Seira pleaded with the knights. “Didn’t you hear what he just said?! That man isn’t my father—he’s a demon who’s taken over his body!”
“That won’t work. They’ll never listen to you,” Baron declared, a twisted smile appearing on his face. “They’re not humans, after all.”
“Huh?” Seira’s eyes went wide.
“They’re my demon subordinates. They’ve taken human forms and slipped in among the knights. It makes the knights much easier to manipulate.”
With a snap of his fingers, Baron’s illusion magic was lifted, and the knights’ features twisted back into their original forms. The horns sprouting from their foreheads indicated their true nature as demons.
Apparently Baron wasn’t the only one who had wormed his way into the heart of Sorcera; quite a few demons had taken up residence there.
“I see. That’s a relief to hear,” I said.
“A relief?” Baron looked at me, perplexed.
“Yeah,” I informed him. “If we’re fighting demons, we can kill them with zero hesitation.”
“Hmph. We’ll see just how long that confidence of yours lasts,” he responded with a mocking grin. “Once I’ve killed the lot of you, Astaroth is as good as fallen—and soon after, the day of our lord the Demon King’s resurrection shall be at hand!”