Chapter 171: 171

A moment of silence fell over us. The Baronet seemed to have fallen into deep thought.

He was most likely thinking about how the civil war was going to ruin Frankia and how that was going to affect his territory once they end up getting involved. The village was currently in a festive mood, and yet, this mood made the Baronet feel even more uneasy. How long was this peace going to last……?

On the other hand, I was just thinking about how nice the soup tasted.

Mm, there was chicken in this, so it was probably chicken soup. And yet, there were also all sorts of vegetables floating around. The ratio of chicken to vegetable was very disproportionate. Would it be all right to call something like this chicken soup? This was the true problem…….

“I am able to have a brief moment of respite thanks to you all. If winter were to have ended normally, then the mood within the village would have been utterly gloomy.”

“It would only please me greatly if our pilgrimage was of any help to you.”

Why was this soup named after the meat……? In order to figure this out, I had another spoonful of the soup. It’s good. All right, let’s just call this tasty soup.

“Thanks to your arrival, my people will be able to meet spring with lighter hearts. We are greatly fortunate. I give you my thanks.”

“Think nothing of it.”

I’m not insincere. I was contemplating more seriously than the baronet. I was trying to go against the prejudice of man and protect the rights and interests of vegetables. The fate of Frankia didn’t even remotely matter. This was the difference between a baronet and a Demon Lord. Hm, should I try dipping a piece of bread into the soup?

“There is something I wish to request of your group.”

“As long as it is within our power.”

Why does this guy keep talking to me? I’m currently mulling over the discrimination between vegetables and meat through the soup in front of me. Do not interfere.

“Strangely, goblins have begun to run amuck since last year. Monsters rarely ever appeared in this area. This is because there is a Demon Lord Castle.”

“Monsters tend to not stray far from Demon Lord Castles, after all.”

There is a bunch of mana concentrated at Demon Lord Castles. Therefore, Demon Lord Castles were like bowls of chicken soup to monsters that live off of mana. They obviously wouldn’t want to leave it.

“That is right. However, monsters have suddenly started to appear. The Demon Lord here most likely started to act in accordance to the Crescent Alliance.”

Baronet Bercy brought up an interesting theory. In other words, while the Crescent Alliance was fighting the humans on the frontline, the Demon Lords who had already taken up positions within the continent were attacking from the rear. He was claiming that that was what the Demon Lord nearby was doing.

Sorry, but that’s wrong.

The monsters have been running amuck because their chicken soup was gone. Their anger was understandable.

I had a certain conversation with someone before.

– Where is your Demon Lord Castle?

– It’s in the Frankish Empire. Lorraine province……Raelleria mountainside.

– Excellent. What are the names of the villages near your castle?

– Pometra and Kampanyl……

Lorraine province, Baronet Bercy, and the village of Pometra.

This was the land that the Rank 72 Demon Lord―Andromalius once resided in.

The humans still don’t know that Andromalius had died. The goblins were rampaging because the mana around the Demon Lord Castle vanished after the Demon Lord’s death. Andromalius died in the demon world, so it wasn’t surprising that the Baronet wasn’t aware of his death.

Andromalius had shoved a bunch of goblins inside a mine and made them work all day to sustain his gambling funds. Those goblins had probably poured out of the dungeon.

I thought to myself as I wiped my mouth with a napkin.

‘In Dungeon Attack, the protagonist’s village gets burned down by goblins. I should first confirm whether the hero’s village is safe or not…….’

A Quest Breaker notification didn’t appear when I killed Andromalius. At the time, I didn’t know that Demon Lords could destroy quests. I felt relieved until I later found out that I could break quests. At that point, a single question had been stuck in my head.

Why didn’t a notification telling me that I broke the hero’s quest appear?

The reason why the protagonist becomes the hero was because of Demon Lord Andromalius. The protagonist starts to harbor a deep hatred toward Demon Lords once Andromalius destroys his village mercilessly. The protagonist should no longer have any reason to become the hero since Andromalius was no longer in the picture.

‘And yet, the quest wasn’t broken.’

Was the protagonist fated to become the hero regardless of whether Andromalius disappeared or not? Or was it possible for anyone to progress down the hero questline even if they aren’t the protagonist……? There were all sorts of probabilities. 

No matter what the answer was, there was only one thing I had to do.

I had to root out the sprout destined to become the hero.

I was working together with the Liberation Alliance and had set our course in this direction for this purpose. It wasn’t a coincidence that we arrived in Baronet Bercy’s land. In this current situation where both the Demon Lord army and the human forces were becoming weaker, the human fated to become the hero was now the biggest threat to my future safety.

I have to get rid of them at all costs.

“Very well, then. We will suppress the goblin tribes. This is probably the Goddess’ will.”

I took away the aftertaste of the soup with some wine.

“However, please provide us with a guide who knows the terrain well. There must be bandit groups and slash-and-burn villages around the foot of the mountain. We might end up getting into an unintentional fight.”

My countenance was being reflected off the bloody red liquid that was contained within my glass. The face that was being reflected off of the wine was truly that of an earnest priest with a gentle smile.

* * *

We had a good night’s rest. 

The lord’s attendant had bought a bunch of food from the main city, so the festival continued late into the night. The dwarven mercenaries led the festival. Thanks to this, instead of being reluctant to abide by the accommodation directive, every one of them insisted that we should stay the night at their place.

At noon, we received cheers from the villagers as if we were some civilian militia that was going out on an expedition. The two people who were assigned to us as guides were middle-aged hunters and they had a comprehensive map of the area in their heads.

“Slash-and-burn villages? Well, there is one.”

“They probably arrived from another country, but they would fight the monsters in the area on their own, so our lord left them alone.”

That was definitely the place.

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I split our group into two. I made Jacquerie take his mercenaries and head to the goblin-infested area. On the other hand, I made Jeremi and the assassins follow me. When Jacquerie asked me why I was splitting the group up, I told him this:

“Our departure was delayed because you guys slept in. There may only be about 20 goblins in a tribe, but if we move together, we would at most only be able to subjugate one tribe in a day. That is inefficient.”

“Mm.”

Jacquerie nodded.

“We did receive a lot of support from the villagers, so we should repay them in kind.”

“Our credibility is on the line here. We have to work hard in order to get hired by other lords in the future. Coordinating with the other Demon Lords in order to deceive the humans is something that will come later. For now, we must work earnestly.”

“Understood.”

That was half a lie and half the truth.

I intended to cooperate with the Demon Lords within the continent to raze down certain areas. However, this wasn’t something we could do right from the start. We have to be patient until the lords trust our mercenary brigade greatly. Subjugating goblins was an easy task that was also perfect for gaining credibility.

On the other hand, I didn’t trust Jacquerie fully yet.

Jacquerie was a passionate republican. He moved according to his ideology and beliefs. If I were to tell them that I intended to wipe out a slash-and-burn village without a good reason, then he would immediately refute me. There was no way he would understand if I told him that the slash-and-burn village contains a man who was one day going to become the hero. 

In this regard, it was convenient to use Jeremi and her assassins.

Assassins were used to killing people without any reason. It was their duty to carry out their tasks without asking any questions if their employer gave them an order. Sure enough, when I told Jeremi that we had to erase a slash-and-burn village from the map, she nodded.

“I believe that Your Highness has thought this through.”

Jeremi responded with a smile. That was it. She was undoubtedly a trustworthy subordinate.

We followed the guide for about 3 hours before we eventually caught sight of the slash-and-burn village from between the foliage. Pillars of smoke were rising up from their campfires. People wearing shabby clothes were walking slowly between tent-like homes.

“Jeremi, you will be annihilating the target in front of us.”

I lowered my voice and gave her the order.

Jeremi turned to glance at the village.

“This will be simple. At most, they have about thirty people, ten of which are young men. I can deal with them all within 5 minutes.”

She replied with a smile still on her lips. I still couldn’t feel any particular emotion from her despite her expression. She probably wouldn’t leak out any killing intent even as she’s stabbing someone in the neck.

“There may be people who are currently not present in the village.”

The protagonist also happened to be outside the village when Demon Lord Andromalius attacked the slash-and-burn village when he was little. That was how he survived the attack. There was no way for me to know that that wouldn’t happen this time as well.

“I wish for the annihilation of every inhabitant of this village.”

“Then what should we do? Should we wait until the evening?”

“No, I have a good idea.”

I took out a magic scroll. It was the same mid-tier teleportation scroll that had provided me with ample opportunities.

“I plan to summon my golems with this.”

“You are going to attack the village with the golems and make us go around and take care of the possible survivors?”

“It is nice that you understand quickly.”

Jeremi smiled.

“This is my expertise, after all.”

“Keep in mind that overconfidence can be dangerous. There is a monster hiding among the enemy that is one day going to conquer the continent. It is a boy. If you discover him, then do not approach him carelessly and report to me first. Do you understand? Do not confront him.”

“…….”

The light in Jeremi’s eyes changed. Her gaze changed from that of a hunter going after small game, to a hyena that was hunting a lion. She didn’t talk about how a boy could possibly do anything. She trusted my words fully and changed her attitude accordingly.

“Understood.”

Including Jeremi, twenty assassins disappeared without a sound. When I turned around, I saw our guide unconscious and on the ground. There was no one around me. As expected of the strongest assassin group in the demon world.

I took in a deep breath.

The hero.

He went from being a slash-and-burn villager to a mercenary, to catching the Imperial Princess’ eyes and gaining military power, to eventually annihilating the Empire of Frankia and the Kingdom of Brittany, and to slaughtering all 72 Demon Lords……. A monster among monsters. In the past, I controlled him as the player, so I know better than anyone else how powerful he is.

I was going to kill him now. I, who used to be the hero, was going to kill him now as a Demon Lord.

All of this was for the sake of my survival. 

“Arcessitus.”

A white light burst out as soon as I tore the scroll.

Large stone soldiers descended upon a dark mountainside. I pointed at the shabby village for my subordinates who were now used to being summoned.

– Kruaaaaaaaah!

The hunt has begun.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I wonder what leads from Dant planning to kill the hero to ‘rescuing’ him later like we got to see in a very early chapter. Well, I actually do know because of the early release chapter, but you know. I gotta act like I don’t and get you guys interested as well. Heh. 

Welp, I hope you guys have a great day and see you in the next chapter.

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