An awkward air flowed through the reception room of the Hubert Company.
“......”
“...So, this person is that...?”
The disturbance that had taken place in Tarak not long ago.
Not much time had passed since then, and in this room arranged shortly afterward, those connected to the incident had gathered in one place.
There was, of course, Heinrich and the hero party, who had rendered distinguished service in resolving the matter; Heinz II, who had helped at the decisive moment; Diana, attending both as a representative of the victims and as someone affiliated with the Hubert Company; and...
Even Temiran McClaire, the culprit behind the incident.
“Mm, I’m sorry. Back then, I...”
Breaking through that awkward air, his cautious apology continued.
They had met for the first time and immediately come to blows, and not much time had passed since then, yet here they were facing each other again in such a peaceful setting.
On top of that, even the victim of the incident was staring at him with wide eyes.
It was a situation that would leave even the most shameless person feeling embarrassed.
“I’m all right. I’ve heard the gist of the circumstances.”
Diana responded maturely to his apology.
It wasn’t that she was particularly broad-minded and had forgiven him.
It was simply that, after hearing the sequence of events from Heinz, she had decided to follow his wishes. ‘He was being controlled against his will, and from now on he’s become a subordinate who can’t refuse Mister’s orders...’ When it came down to it, they were now in the same boat, so continuing to bare their teeth at each other would only be exhausting for both sides.
Once she, as the victims’ representative, accepted the apology, the atmosphere softened somewhat.
Of course, strictly speaking, the greatest victim could be said to be the old shaman woman who had been injured, but she had entrusted everything to Diana and shut herself away to recuperate, so there was no particular problem.
“Your appearance has changed so much that I almost didn’t recognize you. To think that vampire grew this quickly in just a few days. No matter how I look at it, it’s fascinating.”
“...The aura you carry has also changed considerably. If Lord Heinrich hadn’t told us you were the same person, I would have mistaken you for someone else.”
With the saint seated with them having assured them that he was no longer dangerous, the High Elf Lydia and the mage Isea observed the boy before them with interested expressions.
His appearance, which had seemed to be that of someone in his early teens when they first met, had, before they knew it, changed rapidly into that of someone in his late teens—
Or, depending on how one looked at him, even a young man in his twenties.
For the two of them, who could tell that not only his outward form but even the very source and essence of his power had been transformed, it could not help but be all the more fascinating.
“But as expected, it was the Immortal King. I thought he had been relatively quiet lately, but to think he was plotting something like this behind the scenes.”
“War is approaching, after all. The Hubert Company is, in name and reality, the greatest merchant group on the continent. He must have judged that if he could shake it, it would benefit him in many ways.”
And so the conversation naturally moved on to the mastermind behind this matter, the Immortal King.
That atrocious Immortal King had reached out with a hidden scheme to threaten the continent’s commercial sphere before the war began in earnest.
And he had even used the vampires, who had tacitly promised cooperation, aiming to sow discord.
How could this not be called a threat!
“......”
As the group, including even the saint, exchanged opinions with serious expressions and furrowed brows, Temiran, seated across from them, quietly shifted only his eyes and looked toward Heinz, who sat beside him with his legs crossed.
[“Look forward.”]
Then, at the voice of his new master echoing in his head, he calmly moved his gaze back to the front and agreed with their words.
Just as he had been ordered in advance before coming here.
“Yes, and that’s not all. Among the missions I received, there was also something concerning the Demon Realm...”
All of the world’s malice to the Immortal King!
In any case, he could not carelessly disclose anything about the God of the Abyss, and even if he did, the people of this world would not understand it.
So, as with the Oath of Reversal and the Revolutionary, it was far more convenient to simply attribute every incident and accident to the Immortal King. ‘The karma gained this way is fairly profitable, too.’ Perhaps because his control had grown stronger with the addition of “Subordinate Domination,” Temiran carried out his role even more perfectly than expected.
Thanks to this skill, he could now grasp the situation of those subordinate to him in real time and even communicate with them, so as far as unexpected gains went, it was quite a decent harvest.
“If it’s the Demon Realm, then that means...”
“We’ll have to prepare for the demon followers as well...”
As the conversation gradually grew more serious, Diana, who had been quietly sitting in her seat, subtly shifted her eyes and glanced back and forth between Heinrich and Heinz in the same room.
The two still carried a scent that was similar in some way. ‘There’s no doubt about it.’ She recalled the day not long ago when she had brought it up to Heinz.
***
“...I’m sorry. Could you say that again?”
It was an attitude unlike the ever-cool and composed Heinz.
At his reaction, in which confusion was plainly evident, Diana nodded slowly as if she fully understood and opened her mouth again.
“I understand how you feel. But Mister, you know very well what my ability is like, don’t you?”
A transcendent sense of smell that far surpassed that of animals and monsters, one capable of distinguishing not only physical scents but also immaterial concepts such as “danger,” and even the fragrance of souls.
Diana, who had lived with that ability her entire life, declared calmly yet with clear conviction.
“Mister and the saint... I think the two of you are brothers who were separated when you were young.”
“......”
“Maybe you’re even twins. You give off different impressions, but you’re both handsome. If you look closely, your features are somewhat similar too.”
“......”
“I’ve heard this before. Saint Heinrich was also a wanderer from the Kingdom of Talia before he donated all his possessions to the Church of the Lord God and was accepted as a paladin. And the Kingdom of Talia is... where we first met, too, isn’t it?”
A logical argument based on evidence.
Diana looked pitifully at Heinz, who seemed unable to speak after facing this unexpected truth.
The owner of a great merchant company and the king of vampires.
And the saint of the Church of the Lord God, the first sword that carried out God’s will.
Who would ever have dared to imagine that the two were brothers?
If not for her ability, even she would never have expected it. ‘If it’s his identity as the head of the company, there’s no problem at all. But the issue is that Mister’s true identity is that of a vampire. Even though the two sides currently have a relatively good relationship...’ To believe that would continue forever was far too optimistic an expectation.
In truth, the current peace was closer to both sides, following the will of those above, forcing themselves to ignore each other like a cow looking at a chicken.
Perceptions solidified over many long years did not change so quickly, and the dispositions of the two groups were far too diametrically opposed to simply hope they would blend together.
The opposition was merely staying quiet because of the enormous threat of the Immortal King looming right before them; once everything was over, problems would surely begin to surface. ‘Ah! Come to think of it, they said the one who most actively advocated accepting the vampires was the saint. In effect, this bond exists solely on trust in him.’ Perhaps the saint, being able to discern God’s will, had vaguely sensed it as well.
That must have been why he sent a friendly signal toward the vampires, even if it had to be done in that way.
“...Mister, are you all right?”
Diana carefully called to Heinz, who still had his mouth shut.
Even if they had found their lost family, as representatives of their respective groups, they could not act privately.
Even the slightest conflict arising below them would become a barrier they could not easily overlook.
If this was not a prank of fate, then what was it?
“...Mm.”
At that moment, Heinz, who had been looking at Diana with sunken eyes, let out a low groan.
His expression was troubled, as though he were wrestling with something.
Of course, he was thinking something entirely different from what she imagined. ‘What on earth is this girl talking about?’ The fact that Diana had maintained her sanity amid that chaos and distinguished the scents of his two avatars was certainly remarkable.
Not only had they come to possess divinity and gained the ability to control the wavelengths of their existence, but the spiritual security of the avatars, wrapping both body and soul in their mighty, dense rank, was beyond imagination.
Yet the fact that she had smelled him meant—. ‘She’s grown stronger. And on a completely different level from before. ...It seems coming into contact with Temiran, an apostle, had some sort of effect.’ Still, seeing Diana say such things, it seemed that security had not been entirely useless.
She had smelled something, but because the precision was lacking, an error must have occurred in her calculations.
“...I see. Thank you for telling me.”
“No, this much is nothing compared to what you’ve done for me, Mister.”
“Even so, it would be best to bury this for now. It could unnecessarily have a bad effect on both of us.”
“Yes... Um, if you accomplish something great, I’m sure people will acknowledge it! In fact, in the western regions lately, the image of vampires has definitely been changing...”
Heinz gave a heavy nod to her as she earnestly tried to comfort him.
Even though Diana was, for all intents and purposes, completely one of his own, the fewer people who knew a secret, the better.
He had no intention of stepping forward and clearing up the misunderstanding himself. ‘Still, this seems like a fairly decent setup, doesn’t it? I wonder if there’s somewhere I can use it.’ Thus, Heinz sank into thought for a while.
Though the nature of his worries was about a million light-years away from what Diana imagined.
***
“Will it really be all right like this? Of course, I understand that the fight against the Immortal King is urgent, but...”
Immediately after the meeting of those involved ended.
Temiran, now alone with Heinz, carefully posed a question to him.
He had been acting like that for a while, as if something was making him uneasy.
“What are you so worried about? You’re the one who did it, and now you’re worried?”
“Yes, well. That’s...”
Temiran trailed off with an awkward expression.
His feelings were understandable enough.
Since he knew what schemes he had carried out while he was in the other camp, they weighed on his mind all the more after defecting to this side.
“But the current situation in the Demon Realm is seriously no joke! There’s a reason that bastard of the Abyss sent me out when I wasn’t even complete. In a manner of speaking, the current Demon Realm situation is the last bastion, the final struggle!”
The operation currently underway in the Demon Realm was the result of work that had taken thousands of years.
Although Temiran had not been active as an apostle for very long and therefore did not know the whole story, as the one who had pulled the trigger on that arrangement, he had a sufficient grasp of the general outline.
“It’s fine. The preparations to stop it have already been made thoroughly.”
“...Pardon? Preparations? I don’t know how you obtained information about the Demon Realm, but that side has already completely left my hands. Unless you go to the Demon Realm directly, there’s nothing that can be done from here.”
He had ended up like this after going to find Diana, who possessed a fragment of God, in order to handle things with greater certainty, but it meant that even without her, there would be no major hindrance to the plan’s progress.
“The gate has already opened completely, and the army of the Abyss has begun eroding the Demon Realm. The leader over there has long since flipped over as well. With their faith scraping the bottom and their instinctive tendency to submit to the strong, the demon race will soon adapt to the new system under the new Demon King!”
If that happened, it was obvious what would follow.
Of course, such a thing would absolutely never happen.
“Your information is slow. Well, since the last communication must have been before you came to Tarak, I suppose that’s only natural.”
“......?”
Heinz said nothing more to Temiran, who looked as if he could not understand.
After all, even if he told him, Temiran would not understand.
“Enough. You should prepare to cross over to the Zefia Republic.”
“Ah!”
“As it was, the fulfillment of our contract kept getting delayed, and I was losing face. It’s fortunate that at least the result turned out well.”
The promise he had made with Vice President Kayla McClaire of the Republic was to ascertain and inform her of the whereabouts of her missing son.
She had said that if he had died, she would have liked to know where and how, or at least to find his corpse or grave.
'But since I have found her son alive and in the flesh like this, surely this can be considered more than exceeding expectations.'
If this was the result, something like a delay in time was no problem at all.
Moreover, the fact that this son was a vampire completely bound to her could also be counted as a bonus.
It meant that Kella McClair, who had until now been in a cooperative relationship, had become a subordinate absolutely obedient to Hainz.
"U-uh, may I really go?"
"Yes."
"...It's been twenty years. Do you think she will have forgotten me?"
"Don't worry."
"Ah! Then maybe I should have just stayed looking as I did when I was young! Is there any way to turn back even now...?"
"......."
"I suppose not. I was merely saying it. But should I bring some kind of gift? A grown son suddenly paying a visit ought to bring something..."
Temiran had not only been kidnapped when he was young, but even after entering the world, he had moved like a puppet, unable to go near his mother.
Hainz let out a deep sigh, pulled an incredibly expensive-looking necklace-type magical artifact from the air, and threw it at the flustered man.
"...Take that and get lost."
Whether it was the right gift was impossible to know.
And likely would never be known.
Hainz watched him in silence for a moment, then turned away.
There was still much left to do.
***
A battlefield spread beneath a violet sky.
Normally, it was a place where monsters of all forms tangled together and fought over each other's lives, but now, a strange silence enveloped the surroundings to the point that the word 'battlefield' felt mismatched.
"*Huff! Huff!*" [*Grrrrr!*]
"*Hnngh—.*"
But while everyone present was simply not speaking, it was by no means a cold stillness.
Countless eyes blazed with heat, not with the madness of ordinary battle, but with a conviction like that of religious fanatics.
They were all directed at a single being standing in the center of the battlefield.
One who made all kneel simply by existing in that place—
—a great monarch born to reign supreme from the very beginning.
A deadly demonic nature that could make the masses pluck out their own hearts and offer them up willingly with but a single word.
A beautiful and sublime star of the demon realm that prevented one from daring to harbor an irreverent thought.
The Demon King stood there.
[The battlefield has been completely cleared, Lady Hella. If you give the order, we can march upon the next battlefield at any time!]
At that moment, a large balrog approached her, prostrated itself on the ground, and shouted.
He too was a high-ranking demon bearing the title of Count, yet there was not the slightest hesitation in his attitude.
All that existed was clear reverence and worship.
"Hmm
—Siana, where to next?"
"One of the central gates of Dark Nest, the territory of Ottorel."
"Really? Faster than I thought."
The speed was only natural.
The army of Helheim led by Hella was not conquering land through ordinary warfare.
An army's combat power inevitably decreased the more battles continued.
Each war produced countless casualties, and even the survivors were left with immense fatigue.
Of course, the demon race was innately rather resistant to such things, but they still could not help but be affected to some degree...
"Then has everyone rested enough? Shall we move immediately?"
Only her army was the exception.
An enormous demonic power spread in all directions alongside an arrogant smile.
[We shall follow your command!]
"Hella! Hella! Hella!" [*Uwooooo—!*]
"Victory to Helheim! Glory to the great Demon King!"
Influenced by her, the army collectively began to rampage like madmen.
Not only the soldiers who had fought alongside her until now, but even the enemies who had stood in her way mere moments ago.
A demonic legion whose numbers swelled and whose momentum did not diminish as it fought.
The army of Helheim recovered all the territory Abnormal had lost thus far and charged into the mainland of Dark Nest.