Chapter 73 – Chapter 73 ― Everyone Has a Plausible Plan (1)
Episode 73 ― Everyone has a plausible plan (1)
Merde’s soldiers withered away, looking like leaves dying from not being exposed to the rain.
If it had been in the game at this time of year, the hero or the rescued Grunent would have been bringing Arteala’s wheat to Merde.
And Erenia’s surprise attack would have only eliminated half of the wheat in the warehouse.
It is also a victory that is meaningful enough to change the charter even in the game, but not as much as it is now.
A long war over three years.
Even sowing and harvesting could not be done properly.
Merdegun was starving.
Moreover, Merde’s climate is milder than Evirzio’s. Most of the human capitals, including the capital Sprouse, are in the southern part of the continent.
Northwest of Merde, on the border with Evirzio, is a cold place for the Merdeans to live.
Cold wind blows across the border in October, and heavy snow falls in November.
On the other hand, the border was a warm place for the demons of Evirgio who were accustomed to the cold.
Each of those elements come together.
“I really enjoy this winter. Your majesty.”
It produced one of the best winters the Treasurer remembers.
“It seems like this is the first winter I’ve ever spent without worrying about food, finances, or lords. Your majesty. In the winter, my bones were always so cold that I couldn’t move.”
I couldn’t see his expression, but his voice was bright.
It may have been because of the letters or gifts secretly exchanged with Grunent’s maid.
On the other hand, the chancellor’s expression was not very bright.
“I won’t protest like last time, but… There is a need to think about the non-committal behavior of victorious lords. Your majesty.”
Evirzio’s army launched an active offensive in November. It was to make the necessary grounds for the end of the winter according to the emperor’s order.
And won.
It was one victory after another.
Unaccustomed to the cold, hungry, and demoralized by an unexpected defeat, the humans of Merdegun were massacred by him and his opponents, the demons.
It was a victory that surprised even the lords themselves.
“It should be made clear at the royal meeting that the honor was given because we followed His Majesty’s orders. Your majesty.”
Aranya is delicate.
The type who looks at the flaws first and makes sure that things don’t go awry.
The first thing that caught her eye was the lords who were trying to occupy a place in the power struggle of the nobility based on their merits, rather than the lords who were admiring His Majesty’s insight and swearing their allegiance again due to this victory.
And her lord nodded his head.
“I get it. Ask your secretary to emphasize that part of the speech.”
Aranya smiled at the Emperor’s understanding and bowed her head. Unlike half a year ago, the meeting now naturally aggressively presents the necessary opinions to the emperor.
The chancellor is a bit worried, but she smiles in relief because she trusts Roan.
However, Roan is still an evil demon lord.
In the end, the traces of the hero could not be grasped, and the demon king still greeted the new year as an enemy of mankind.
Contrary to the expression made by Roan’s drowsy shell, Roan’s heart was dark.
‘Positive… , Let’s affirm If you really want it, the universe will step in and help you…’
Of course, there were a lot of good things too.
The demon king’s body is strong.
There was an unexpected blind spot, but fortunately I met the (former) demon king and received advice. I will never fall down for the same reason in the future.
After not neglecting training and studying even with the body of the demon king, who is at the highest level except for knowledge, his knowledge level finally exceeded 50, and his skills rose!
In addition, they attacked Grünent and Helen, and Elenia will arrive soon.
Diobe’s likability is also good. Lisa was not a character to be targeted, but she was of great help in many ways, and Lauca’s flow wasn’t too bad.
[Iron-Blooded Demon King
True Name: Roan■■■■
Level: 539
Strength: 99 (Max)
Knowledge: 51
Wisdom: 92
Skill: 99 (Max)
Health: 99 (Max)
Charm: 99 (Max)
==========
Possession skill
— Overwhelm Lv1
— Miheun Lv1
— Detection Lv1
— Mirror (Deterioration) Lv1
— Will 〈 No Growth〉
– Listen
└ [Derivation] Appeal Lv1
— Politics Lv3 〈 Unable to grow〉
— Charisma Lv3 〈 Unable to grow〉
Undistributed Skill Points: 2pt ]
Possessed skills have doubled, the level has risen, and there are spare skill points. It’s already been half a year since he became the Demon King. It is the result of my own struggle.
Crucially, I know the future and the main situation here.
… No, about the future… I knew ‘was’.
The in-game knowledge I know is absolute in this world. However, I am diligently twisting the story and the future with my own hands.
‘If I don’t do that, I can’t live.’
In his heart, Roan cried.
I tried to straighten out the justice of this country with the intention of staying away from the hero, but the future is twisted.
Instead of accepting Grünent as her concubine in order not to be framed as an enemy of humans, the rescue party failed.
The hero did not appear, and the leader of the Laurecia Church and Helen, who should have returned to Merde with Grunent, faced different fates.
Diobe, who would normally sell my information, is also working as an official. Thus, her contact with the spy is also unknown.
Of course, there would have been a way to leave her likeability negative, like entrapment, but I don’t want to risk my life as bait to take that risk.
In addition, the discovery of the waypoint was later than expected.
Roan, who had been silently listening to the meeting, asked when the topic was over.
“Knight Commander.”
“Yes. Your majesty.”
“How is the search for ruins?”
Minoreus’s voice became hoarse.
“… I’m sorry. Your majesty. So far, no news.”
Weird.
Roan couldn’t understand.
It’s not even a ruin buried a few tens of meters below ground, the waypoint near Basel is simply in the woods near Basel.
In order to buy time for Helen, who rescued Grunent, to run away, the hero in the game runs away from their escape route and finds a waypoint while running into the forest.
The hero who was chased by the tracking team could disappear as soon as he got out of Basel like that.
If you bring a map, you can pinpoint where you are and remember what nearby landmarks were. I’ve told you all about it, but I can’t find it.
The landmarks I mentioned were still there, but the ruins never came out. The ground was dug, of course.
The situation was the same at other waypoints in Evirzio as well as near Basel.
As the emperor’s expression filled with concern, Minoreus became more and more helpless.
“It seems that the search will take some time as it is a deep winter. I’ll urge you to explore all over again. Your majesty.”
“Hmm. Let’s proceed in a line where we don’t lose any members.”
“All right. Your majesty.”
The knight commander was restless and lowered his head. As half of the members of the search party are Aranya’s guards, Aranya also doesn’t look good.
But I couldn’t give up.
It was a ‘deep winter’ that made it difficult for everyone to move, but Roan had no choice but to urge the search team.
Spring will come again next year,
Because the people had to eat next year too.
The clue that could change the lives of the desolate demons started from that waypoint.
After the meeting, Roan, lost in thought, visited Grunent’s room after dinner.
One of the reasons why the king of Merde, who started the war, decided to go to war has to do with the clue Roan is trying to find. So Roan asked Grunent about the king of Merde.
“That’s really… Are you real?”
However, Grünent asked back with an expression that he had never heard of. Helen also has a face that I don’t know well.
“Hmm. The ‘seed of the dark forest’ was originally a huge ore. And in Merde, I thought they were aiming for that and starting a war… Is not it?”
Now that he had absolute confidence in Roan’s abilities, he didn’t ask how Roan figured out these things.
Because every competent king has his own information book.
Grunent tilted his head.
“I couldn’t attend the main meeting because my father kept me in check, but… The ostensible reason for the war was human freedom, and the real reason was the weakening of the aristocracy. It would have been difficult to move the army with the legendary ‘Dark Forest Seeds’.”
Helen, who was standing behind Roan like an escort knight, added.
“There were words that circulated like rumors. King of Merde… Sprouse III covets the ‘Dark Forest Seed’. But that’s just a story… , Because it feels like something from a fairy tale.
No one would have taken it seriously. Master.”
As she turns her gaze to Helen, her description of her comes to mind. She is an explanation that comes to mind when looking at a woman who has completed an attack.
[Name: Helen
‘The Demon King’s Watchdog (番犬)’
Alignment: Orderly Neutral
Height: 168cm
Three sizes: 38-24-36 (96cm-62cm-92cm)
Bust size: G cup
Replication Skill: Charisma Lv3]
Inside the knight’s uniform that covered his neck with a high collar, the leash that Roan had worn was still attached.
Among the knights of the family, there are definitely those who call the head of the household their master. Grünent, knowing that, took one look at Helen with a ‘hmm’ expression at her title of Helen for Roan and moved on.
“It’s more strange to me that His Majesty, who is not even a forest fairy, believes in a story like this in the first place. It’s a story that’s hard to believe even for me, a forest fairy.”
Leaning against her window and gazing out her window with her arms crossed, Lauca joined in on the story.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Hmm…”
Roan was moderately evasive.
“… Book?”
To be precise, the title of the set-up.
Lauca furrowed her eyebrows in surprise.
“… Do you believe in all the fairy tales that children read, Your Majesty?”
However, Roan’s answer was serious.
“I saw this phrase.
「The ‘Dark Forest Seed’ is a source of life that is so huge that it grows the Dark Forest. The existence of this world is something that cannot be discovered with the naked eye.
However, the seed accumulates power in the earth for another life. Life crystallizes to form veins and rises to the surface.”
Lauca’s eyes widened.
“… How do you know that?”
However, it was Grünent who took over Roan’s words. She recited the phrase as if singing.
“Where the traces of deep life remain, the goddess has left her footprints.”
“Isn’t that the phrase from the ‘Dark Forest Tombstone’?”
Lauca looked around at Grünent and Helen, as if bewildered.
“… A necessary culture even for humans, what is it?”
“I am quite smart among humans. Lauca.”
“I read a lot about the traces of the goddess in the church. Mr. Lauca.”
“… It’s unexpected.”
This is the phrase of the ‘stone monument’ at each waypoint.
To be precise, the text on the tombstone at the waypoint in the Dark Forest.
When I think of it like this, it is even more rare.
Where there is a waypoint, there is always that ‘stone monument’ that is like a marker. The common phrase is ‘Footsteps of the Goddess’.
Tombstone is an old and famous relic. It is something that intellectuals like Grünent and Helen have heard of. The story of ‘Dark Forest Seeds’ is also known as a fairy tale, just like Lauca says.
The tombstone remains like the game, but no one has ever found the waypoint.
Something clear
There is something different from what I knew.
Roan, who had been silently thinking, opened his mouth.
“I need to find it myself.”
The three women looked at Roan in unison.
Among them, the first to speak was Lauca with an absurd voice.
“… What? Could it be ‘Dark Forest Seeds’?”
“No, a crystal mine that received the power of seeds.”
“… Isn’t it the same as absurd in that you search for something that doesn’t exist in this world anyway?”
Anyway, I don’t know where the ‘Dark Forest Seeds’ are. Because it’s not in the game.
I have no intention of finding it. If I brought it carelessly and all of the Dark Forest dries up and dies, I will be assassinated not only by humans but also by the forest fairies.
However, I know where the crystal mine where the power of the ‘Dark Forest Seed’ is crystallized is located.
As soon as you get off at the ‘Dark Forest Monument’, a 30-minute walk following the shadow when the full moon is at its highest.
… An indicator of the feeling of visiting a residential area, ‘5 minutes from the subway station by the village bus’ on the outskirts of the city.
It sounds like a floating story, but it’s a story that’s included in the official setting book of Castle Hero Electric Producer.
