Once, the man had lived as a web novel producer.
Giving advice. Offering opinions. Finding places to revise.
He had seen a great many stories. Masterpieces, average works, poor works, utter trash.
And that day was the day his younger sister showed him her writing.
“Even the title is driving me insane, little sister.”
Crying Out Romance Fantasy at the Center of Destruction. Apparently, that was the title.
He asked, just in case, and the answer he got was a spectacle.
“So. This world is supposed to be destroyed by demons. And they stop it with the power of the main characters’ love? Just because you spit words out of your mouth doesn’t make them speech. What are you doing, shitting out of your mouth?”
“What are you talking about? It’s a decent premise!”
“If demons are the problem, you kill the demons. Why are you going on about love?”
When a problem arises, the correct answer is to eliminate the source of that problem.
First. Demons are trying to destroy the world. Second. Therefore, kill the demons.
With such perfect, clean logic sitting right there, why was romance butting in?
“Are you sure you’re a web novel producer?”
“I’ve never handled romance fantasy garbage like this. Nor do I want to.”
“This is why you don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Oh, would you look at that.”
“You and your damn overpowered protagonist stories. I’m sick of them. There should be some heart-fluttering flavor too.”
“Well, would you look at that.”
Keep chasing that heart-fluttering flavor and you’ll flutter yourself into a seizure and die.
Still, she said she was preparing to serialize it, so he held himself back and read a little more.
“Wow.”
The Seven Deadly Sins, who had to be considered top-class among demons.
And the reason they appeared was none other than the villainess’s jealousy.
Since jealousy was one of the Seven Deadly Sins, fine, let’s say that made sense.
But everyone got jealous, so why did it only react to the villainess?
“Doesn’t everyone get jealous?”
“A villainess needs a reason to be called a villainess.”
“Say something that makes sense.”
“I’m telling you, there is a reason.”
“Fine. Then I’ll let that pass for now. The villainess actually became a villainess because of the heroine, but I’ll let that pass for now too. If anything, the villainess should be beating the heroine to a pulp, but I’ll let that pass too.”
“Quit it already, seriously.”
The twisted second male lead makes a contract with a demon to possess the heroine.
In exchange, the demon demands the Empire’s military withdrawal, and achieves its goal.
Thanks to that, the Empire, their powerful ally, becomes half-crippled in an instant.
There are even guys who follow the second male lead and outright go over to the demons.
“Isn’t the Empire in the America position? Is it possible for it to get rolled this fast?”
“This second male lead is a big-shot character in the Empire. He’s smart and strong. That’s why.”
“The most amazing part is that this incredible guy suddenly turns into a rock-headed idiot babbling about love.”
When the demon takes the heroine hostage, infighting breaks out among the male leads.
Thanks to that, the kingdoms are ravaged by demons and everything goes to hell.
In particular, the hero male lead and the saint male lead splitting in opinion was the fatal blow.
As a result, the hero’s companions and the holy knights are defeated in detail.
“Isn’t a hero called a hero because he saves the world? Why is he trying to save the heroine first?”
“Sometimes love is more important than the world.”
“Why does this saint bastard put the heroine before his religion? Isn’t he afraid of an inquisition?”
“If you think about it, love is sacred too.”
“So this is true romance fantasy.”
In the end, by the power of sublime love, the demons go aagh! and disappear!
Wow! Happy ending! Everyone embraces and shares a tearful reunion!
The heroine keeps three male leads on the hook, wondering, Which one should I choose?
And the supporting characters, who each gave up on love in a cool, beautiful way?
As if it were all arranged, they fall for one another and find new love!
“Hold on. Stop. What are you going to do about the difference in status?”
“They can overcome that as much as they want!”
“I saw in the beginning that she beat up a young lady from a lower house just because she looked at her. But nothing happens if an imperial prince gets together with the lowest-ranking noble?”
“They saved the world from demons, remember?”
That was as far as he got. The man closed the document file and said,
“Little sister. I’m begging you, don’t upload this to our site.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to hear people tell my little sister to go unload cargo for a living.”
“I wasn’t going to upload it there anyway. It’s full of male-oriented stories. Do you think I’m crazy?”
“I’m relieved you still have that much sense left, little sister.”
He understood. Every genre had points that worked for it.
Just as in harem stories, the heroines fell for the protagonist no matter what he did.
In romance fantasy, it was right for the male leads to fall for the heroine unconditionally.
Just as in misunderstanding stories, the protagonist received cheers and applause no matter what he did.
In romance fantasy, rose-colored glasses had to make people unable to tell sense from nonsense.
If male readers felt pleasure when the heroine in a misery story regretted her actions and clung to the protagonist,
then female readers also felt vicarious satisfaction when the male leads in romance fantasy became obsessed and held on.
Just as in overpowered protagonist stories, the protagonist had to be strong and win no matter what,
in romance fantasy, the heroine had to bend every man to her will unconditionally.
Plausibility? Can’t we lose a little for the sake of fun? Setting? Let’s change it for popularity.
Honestly, this wasn’t only a problem with romance fantasy. As a producer, the man knew that well.
“Still, this is a bit much.”
There was a limit to things. A limit. This went too far. Way too far.
When plausibility gets nuked and the setting collapses, even readers vomit it back up.
Wasn’t there any producer who handled female-oriented stories? He wanted to attach one to his sister.
Thinking that, he decided to sleep off the fatigue that had piled up after proofreading until dawn.
***
“…So that’s why you came here?”
“That’s right. In our world, we call this possession.”
“How impressive. By any chance, did you hit your head so hard something went wrong?”
Had he? The man felt the back of his head, which had been smashed into the ground.
Red blood came away on his hand. Whether it was his own, or the soldier’s.
Or perhaps that of the damned demons trying to swallow the world.
The man roughly wiped the blood on his hand against his shirt.
Each time he did, the soldier’s hollowed-out lower half flashed past him.
“Let’s say you really did come from another world, Captain.”
“I’m telling you, it’s true. I’m possessed.”
“In any case. Then shouldn’t you just have met that protagonist or whatever?”
“Did you forget my origin? A lowly commoner meeting nobles? That’s asking to be beaten to death.”
If he was going to be possessed anyway, it would have been nice if he had become a noble.
But of course, he was a commoner. Someone who couldn’t get involved in the story. Not even an extra.
If things went on like this, he would be swept up in the ridiculous romance fantasy storyline.
There was only one way. Earn the qualifications to climb up to where the protagonists were.
Grab the story by the hair and normalize his sister’s novel in the right direction.
“So I pretended to be crazy and volunteered for the army. At first, they looked down on me as a brat and kicked me whenever they were bored. So I bit out a demon’s throat right in front of all of them. After that, the number of guys harassing me dropped. I thought, so this does the trick, and next time I pulled out a demon’s intestines and chewed on them. Then they wouldn’t even meet my eyes.”
“…”
“It was fucking awful. I lived like a dog for ten years.”
Heh heh heh. The man let out a bizarre laugh like a madman.
“You know what? I struggled like that, desperate to somehow get involved in the story. But I fought for so long that now the story itself is hazy. Even the protagonists’ names are hazy.”
Who he had been. Where he had come from. Even the place he had to return to was blurred.
All that remained were the demons he had killed. The comrades who had died. The blood-soaked path he had walked.
“Let’s go now. We’ve lazed around here long enough. The others will start bitching.”
“…”
“I said, let’s go.”
“…”
The man turned his head. The soldier’s two eyes were empty.
A hollow gaze stared at the man. And beyond him.
“You’re going?”
No answer came back.
“You’re going, then.”
There was no wetness in the man’s voice.
It was merely hollow, like the eyes of the dead.
“Farewell. You worked hard.”
He would not look back. My friend.
For a part of me dies here with you.
After closing the soldier’s eyes, the man rose to his feet.
Corpses lay scattered everywhere. Humans and demons were mixed together.
In that place, the man was the only human still alive and moving.
“He’s standing up!”
Gwaaak!—
Kyaaaak!!—
The demons stepped backward. Fear filled their eyes.
Beings that saw humans as nothing more than prey. As inferior things.
Faced with a single man, they could not hide their terror.
“Human! A deal! Let’s make a deal!”
A deal. The man looked at the demon that had said it.
“I’ll grant your wish! You’ve heard of the power of demons, haven’t you? We have the strength to do it!”
“A wish.”
“Yes. Anything you want! Power! Authority! Women! All of it is possible!”
“Then send me back to the world I came from.”
At the unexpected words, the demon who had made the offer began to stammer.
The world he came from? What was that supposed to mean?
“You can’t.”
“T-That’s—!”
“Negotiations have broken down.”
Mana blazed in the man’s eyes.
He had no gleaming armor. No sharp weapon.
Worn leather clothes. A chipped sword. That was all.
In that form, the man had slaughtered countless demons.
“Human! Wait!”
The demons retreated.
Crunch—
The man approached.
Demons were hunters who captured and killed humans.
But in this moment, the hunters became the prey.
“Demons should be killed.”
Hundreds of demons. A single human.
And yet the ones trembling in fear were the demons.
The one walking forward with a smile was the man.
The slaughter began. Demons died one after another.
Caught in a vortex of blood, they became chunks of flesh.
No demon could endure before him.
The demons resisted. The man was wounded as well.
But he did not stop. He killed, and killed again.
He cut them down with his sword. Crushed them with his fists. Smashed them beneath his feet.
At last, the demons collapsed without even being able to resist.
Whether they fought. Whether they fled. They could not escape that human.
He did not fall. He killed demons.
He ran rampant across the battlefield. He was alone, yet invincible.
A vast army of demons aiming for the fall of the kingdom.
A battle even the alliance had expected to lose and retreated from.
What brought the demons down was a single human.
***
Under the unprecedented crisis known as demons, the continent united.
The Empire and the kingdom joined hands, and other races lent their aid as well.
The birth of the continental alliance was the result of a struggle for survival.
In the end, the demons were defeated and forced to retreat.
Thus, the alliance declared victory and established Victory Day.
They had fought for more than ten years against the common enemy called demons.
The possibility of another demonic invasion existed at any time.
Everyone had suffered great damage from the war.
Therefore, it was best to maintain good relations with one another.
“I, Prinz, second prince of the Kingdom of Kasen, hereby challenge you to a duel!”
“Very well. Evan, Margrave of the Efer Empire, accepts that duel.”
Cracks were already forming in those supposedly good relations.
“Second Prince Prinz. It seems the Kingdom of Kasen even concerns itself with a mere low-ranking noblewoman?”
“Let us say this is a warning against the discourteous behavior of an imperial noble who tried to drag Lady Estelle to the ballroom by force even though she expressed her refusal.”
The Efer Empire and the Kingdom of Kasen, which could be called the pillars of the alliance.
The two were parties that absolutely had to join hands in the war against the demons.
They were lips and teeth; in terms of geography, if either died first, the other would eventually die as well.
In a situation where the demons could invade again at any time,
conflict had to be avoided at all costs, even for the continued existence of the continental alliance.
And yet a duel was taking place between the margrave and the second prince of those two nations.
At a party commemorating the eleventh anniversary of the alliance’s founding, no less.
“Shouldn’t we stop them? A duel out of nowhere at such a fine occasion? And between the Kingdom of Kasen and the Efer Empire, at that.”
“I asked the Kasen side, but they said the prince’s will is too firm for them to stop him.”
“The Empire is the same. I heard even an imperial prince stepped in, but then the prince’s side washed their hands of it.”
A duel at an event created to strengthen the alliance’s solidarity.
It was truly laughable. Rationally, it made no sense at all.
And yet a young lady from the kingdom was the beginning and reason for everything.
Everyone tried to stop them, but the two men’s will to duel was firm.
‘With this chance, I’ll engrave my image into Lady Estelle’s mind.’
‘Was her name Estelle? I’ll show that woman that an imperial noble is far better.’
Or perhaps it was because they wanted to draw a single woman’s attention?
“If you attempt to restrain me any further, I will take it as an insult to the royal family of Kasen.”
“This is being done by my authority as a margrave. I will bear all responsibility.”
Do not interfere. This is a matter of a man’s love and pride.
Whoever meddles will never be forgiven.
At their razor-sharp warnings, the party attendees eventually stepped back.
Thus, just as Prinz and Evan’s duel was about to begin.
Thud!—
“Grrk!”
Evan was struck in the solar plexus and collapsed on the spot.
The margrave, who had once fought demons, was even foaming at the mouth.
Crack!!—
“Guh!!”
Prinz clutched the crown of his head and toppled over from the splitting pain.
Gone was the prince’s dignified air as he groaned in agony.
It had happened in the blink of an eye.
Everyone was shocked, wondering what madman had done such a thing.
“The demons aren’t all dead yet.”
His blazing eyes flashed.
An ominous aura poured from his entire body.
“If you have the strength to draw your swords here, use it to kill more demons.”
He had dared to lay hands on an imperial noble and a royal.
And yet no one could open their mouth carelessly.
Because everyone here knew far too well who he was.
“Wait. Is that ‘him’?”
“It is. It’s him. It’s that Cain!”
“I didn’t think he’d come to a place like this?!”
Realizing the man’s identity, everyone was astonished.
Demon-Slayer. Executioner. God’s Right Hand.
And—
“Grrk! How dare you! What irreverent knave dares lay a hand on the body of royalty!”
“To lay hands on a margrave who has received his authority directly from His Imperial Majesty. You must wish to die!”
“How strange. Was this not an occasion to celebrate the founding of the alliance? If you are doing this despite knowing that, then I may judge that you are acting under the demons’ orders with the intention of causing division within the alliance.”
“Wh-What?!”
“H-How dare this man!”
“So.”
No matter who the opponent was, he never let anything pass.
“Before I start suspecting you, shut your mouths and go quietly have a drink.”
The Empire’s Mad Dog.