162. Uproar (1)
‘I suppressed it even when I heard the news about Cruel’s body, but it finally exploded like this.’
I guess I should say it was fortunate that it exploded when no one was in the room.
Emotions that are revealed beyond a certain point are unsightly. Anger was no exception. It’s an ugly and vulgar thing to raise one’s voice and shout loudly, swayed by one’s emotions. I could have been caught by someone and completely destroyed the image I had built up so far.
[My junior, there are many ways to express your anger without having to raise your voice. So don’t belittle your dignity by shouting until your throat hurts.]
Don’t get excited. Emotions should only be shown in refined form. Even if your insides are boiling, your head is cool. Always take care of the opposite sex at any moment.
After biting Ben, who rushed in saying he had received a signal, Deon calmly folded the handkerchief he had stolen from his mouth and put it in his arms, then looked at Devellania standing in front of him.
“I think there’s some missing information about Cruel.”
“…sorry.”
“I guess you knew.”
“….”
I was a little angry. If I had told you in advance, at least I wouldn’t have been embarrassed in front of everyone.
“…Why did you do that?”
“I’m sorry….”
“I wasn’t asking that.”
I slowly got up from my seat.
Step by step. Step by step. The slow steps seemed to move a little and stopped in front of Develania. Deon brought his face closer and made eye contact.
Unlike the raised corners of his mouth, his bright red eyes were shining with an eerie madness.
“Why did you think I would be so shocked? Or did you think I would not be able to control my anger and go on a rampage?”
“…!”
“It’s the latter.”
Yes, it would have been funny if it had been the former. How can a person who saw his brother die in front of his eyes and later tried to collect the body, but then heard that someone cut off his head, let alone the body, be shocked now?
“How did you see me as a person who couldn’t control his emotions…”
“That’s not it…!”
“Looking at the fact that I omitted information for just that reason, it seems like I was quite easy on myself.”
“Ah… no…!”
Sigh.
I didn’t want to hear any more simple denials, so I grabbed Develania’s neck. I didn’t put any strength into my hands. Even if you apply force, your poor grip will only be revealed, let alone hitting.
instead.
“There is a limit to what you can look at.”
Take a picture with the atmosphere.
I took off my smile and looked at the demon in front of me. He stared straight into his rather hard eyes and softly licked his lips.
“Just do it in moderation.”
“….”
Silence fell.
…The anger ends here. Deon slowly removed his hand from Develania’s neck and let out a faint sigh.
This is someone who apologized obediently from beginning to end. If you get even more angry and press it, it will only have the opposite effect.
“…I hope something like this doesn’t happen next time.”
Deon swallowed his unrelenting emotions.
***
At the meeting, Deon Hardt clearly said this.
[A week after I finish the ‘Warning to the Human World’, the 5th Corps is to go over there (Taehon Country) and fight the so-called ‘Gwaengpan’.] It
is a scary order from the commander-in-chief. 5th Corps Commander Oel followed closely.
She, who had been stirring up the country with her lieutenant, Dernivan, who was practically a nanny, was wiping out a village today as well and searching through houses in search of interesting items.
“Dernivan, look at this. There’s a bunch of dried grass. “Why do I have this in the house?”
“It appears to be an herb used by humans.”
“medicinal herbs? “Is it the same as the fairy herb?”
“Since it is in a commoner’s home, the effect will be minimal compared to the fairy herbs.”
“Are commoners unable to get effective herbs?”
Oel, who seemed to have lost interest, threw away the bunch of herbs and turned to search another house, but stopped when he heard a sound from somewhere.
“Ugh-.”
“…?”
It was clearly the voice of a living thing.
As if Dernivan had heard it, his indifferent eyes turned alive. It’s not an illusion. Oel began to slowly move his feet in search of the source of the sound.
“Huiing-.”
“….”
The sound was coming from the closet.
Come to think of it, the body of a human woman was in front of me. I thought it was a coincidence, but it wasn’t.
He pushed the woman’s body with his foot, glanced back at Dernivan, nodded his head as if he could barely see her, and opened the closet. Immediately, Dernivan stretched out his arm to suffocate it, but—
“…wait.”
I had no choice but to stop at the command that contained the intention of restraint.
Without hiding his sharp exposed fingernails, Dernivan just rolls his eyes and examines Oel. Her eyes were sparkling like when she discovered something she had never seen before.
…no way.
“I saw it in a book! Is this a ‘baby’? That ‘baby’ you called a ‘blessing’! “Oh my god, a living baby!”
“…Oel.”
ah. at last.
The lost fingernails are hidden in the fist. Dernivan seemed to know what his superior would say.
“Dernivan! “Let’s grow this!”
“I am human.”
“But it’s a ‘baby’, right?”
“We must kill him.”
“no! “I want to have a ‘blessing’ too!”
“I will try my best.”
Demons are a race born from the ‘power of the Demon King’. No matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to have a baby…
but now you have to stop your runaway lover and boss. Dernivan calmly told the lie without changing his expression.
“So that you can have what you want….”
“I want this baby now.”
“….”
“No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think I can wait until I have a baby. When I looked into it, I heard that there are some people who can’t make babies in their wombs. People like that have babies through a method called ‘adoption.’”
“The Demon King will not allow it.”
“You can raise it secretly!”
“but.”
“Are you going to help me, Dernivan?”
“….”
Huh?
Dernivan, who was looking at his sparkling eyes, slowly lowered his gaze. His fingernails, which had been standing so viciously as if they were going to take the life of the ‘baby’ at any moment, were now completely hidden.
“…If that’s an order.”
***
“Your Majesty, I have some news….”
“I’m busy now, so later.”
An urgent request for assistance came from Rweche. The emperor, who had ordered an emergency meeting to be convened, walked briskly to the meeting hall, passing by a knight who clearly looked restless.
If it was an urgent issue related to the war, the report would have been made immediately according to the order given in advance, so it would not be that important right now.
The emperor, who had completely erased from his mind the depressed knight whose report had been rejected for the eleventh time, stood in front of the door of the conference hall.
“Your Majesty the Emperor….”
“There is no need for that.”
It’s a waste of time to stay like this. As I did one day, I personally opened the door and went in.
The nobles hurriedly stood up at the unexpected appearance of the emperor and came into view. The Emperor skipped even waving his hand and walked forward with long strides and sat down on the throne.
“Now that we’ve said our greetings, everyone please sit down.”
The emperor continued speaking immediately, as if he could not even wait for the moment when the nobles rested their butts on the chairs.
“A request for support has come in from Rweche, an ally. They say demons have started knocking on the kingdom’s gate. “As it is the kingdom that is currently providing the greatest help to the Paras Territory, I think we should not leave it alone for moral reasons.”
There was a brief silence, and the nobles responded in unison.
“Since when did ‘morality’ rather than ‘profit’ become part of movements between countries? The current empire is having a hard time just dealing with the demons. “You must refuse.”
“The alliance will be shaken. Not only Rweche but also Shan Guo will view the empire in a negative light. Even so, shouldn’t we refrain from actions that increase our enemies when public opinion is not favorable? So, Your Majesty, it is right to help even if it means going a little too hard.”
“Previously.”
Just when it seemed like there was a commotion, someone’s hand came up.
“May I ask for a more detailed explanation of what is going on? “It’s such a big deal that I don’t think there will be anyone who doesn’t know about it, but because it’s progressing so suddenly, there may still be people who don’t know what’s going on.”
Purple eyes hide under crescent-shaped eyelids. The emperor looked at him quietly and nodded.
“I was so busy that I overlooked that. You may have already heard the news that the 5th Legion of the Demon King’s army swept over the Tahon Kingdom. The Taehon Kingdom is a vassal state that Rweche promised protection. Rweche sent support to keep its promise…”
After that, it was the same as now.
This is a force to deal with the 5th Corps. Since sending clumsy troops would only be a waste of money, they would have sent a significant amount of proper troops, and as a result, Rweche’s strength was greatly reduced.
In that situation, demons began knocking on the gates of Rweche.
“In the end, didn’t Rweche bring it on himself? “You must refuse.”
“Rweche is going too far in order to maintain faith in the alliance. If Rweche had ignored the Tahon Kingdom, we would have reconsidered our alliance with Rweche. In the end, this means that we are responsible for what happened to Rweche. So, we must do our best to help.”
“Now that we don’t know when the war against demons will end, we must conserve our power. But since we can’t be the cause of the alliance breaking up… how about sending nominal support? “These are people I wouldn’t regret losing.”
“Are there such people?”
“Isn’t there a military force made up of poor people and commoners? “If we don’t have enough, we can just conscript more.”
The nobles had already contributed to the power of the empire by having one or more of their family members participate in the war along with some of their private soldiers. Therefore, even if there is talk of conscription of imperial citizens in a situation where there is a shortage of troops, the emperor will not be angry.
That’s why I boldly spoke up, but…
“Even if it’s an unavoidable situation, I’m not happy that you’re talking about ‘conscription’.”
The emperor’s face was distorted with displeasure.
“The conscription of imperial citizens was carried out due to a shortage of troops. “If we send them to another country as a discard card, how will we fill the void?”
“That too by conscripting more poor people and commoners…”
“You seem to think that the people of the empire are some kind of magical spring that keeps gushing out, but you are wrong. “Aren’t there troops of a better quality than that?”
I can feel the wet feel of blood on my fingertips holding the armrests of the throne.
In a terrible situation that had progressed from nightmare hallucinations to tactile sensations, the emperor calmly raised his hand and pointed at the nobles without showing any signs of expression.
“Aren’t there still some of your private soldiers left?”
“That’s the bare minimum to protect the territory…!”
“It seems that territory takes precedence over the empire for you, right? “If the empire collapses, the territory you cherish so much will also become land without an owner. This is truly foolish.”
“That’s not it…!”
When the nobleman who had courageously stepped forward was helplessly caught up in the emperor’s rhetoric, another nobleman spoke up.
“Your Majesty’s subordinates have already shown their loyalty to the empire by sending their family men to the battlefield. “But how can you do this?”
The emperor, who had been listening quietly, raised one corner of his mouth.
“If it really symbolizes loyalty, you shouldn’t act so confidently.”
“What are you talking about?…”
“Adopted orphan, illegitimate child, distant collateral.”
“…!”
At some point—to be precise, since the emperor said that if there was a shortage of troops, he would first recruit nobles, the number of people joining noble families has increased rapidly.
The reason was obvious.
“I don’t want to go to war myself, I don’t want to send my precious children, and I even don’t want the private soldiers I invested money to raise, so I thought you wouldn’t know that I took other people’s children and sent them to the war to minimize losses.”
“An illegitimate child is someone else’s child….”
“Yes, he would have been treated no worse than someone else’s child. “I guess that’s not the point of the story.”
“….”
“It’s absurd that you dare to talk about loyalty after acting like that. If I had known this would happen, I would have ordered all but one man to participate in the war. “Isn’t that right?”
“…I dare to urge you to consider the origin of the matter.”
It seems they pushed it too far. The cornered mouse crawled over and bit the cat.
