Chapter 68: 68

“Okay, let’s get rid of some more……before that, let me quench my throat a little.”

Dantalian took a sip of his wine. The thought of having overcome the first hurdle got Dantalian’s blood pumping. Barbatos stared at him with a discontent gaze.

“Your words sound reasonable, but there are still gaps. There are holes like the holes in swiss cheese. What if some bastard in the Mountain Faction had gone insane? What if they didn’t care about the benefits of their faction and carried out this grand scheme simply to mess with you, Dantalian?”

Dantalian nodded.

“Certainly, I’m thinking under the assumption that the culprits are rational to a certain degree.”

“Yeah, that’s impossible. Half of the Demon Lords are insane. To be painfully honest, there’s a chance that Belial had left the mark on Riff’s corpse himself because he’s either incredibly stupid or isn’t completely sane…….”

“So, in other words, you want to rely on  ‘coincidence’, right?”

She shut her mouth.

Dantalian rotated his cup and the crimson wine contained inside of it swayed as he did so.

“Whether I had figured out you were the culprit or not truly through deductions alone, or maybe it was a pure coincidence that I had chosen you as the culprit. Maybe I had brought this Year 505 Baler Wine because I wasn’t confident in my deduction and thus used it as a means to confirm whether I made the right choice or not. ……Barbatos, you suggested this match in order to confirm these things, and yet, you’re now trying to argue using irrational ideas.”

He stared straight at Barbatos.

“Like you suggested, some psychotic fellow could have acted completely irrationally. The mark might have been left on Riff’s corpse out of some random coincidence. How about this idea? Rank 7 Amon has the ability of clairvoyance. They may not have attended the recent Walpurgis Night, but there’s a chance they could have watched the hearing through their clairvoyance, right?”

“That’s…….”

“We’d have to include Amon to the list of suspects and that would mean we’d have to consider not thirty-two Demon Lords, but thirty-three. I have no idea why Amon would be interested in me, a rank 71, and frame Belial, a rank 68, but Amon might have done something like this because he’s a little insane.”

He chuckled.

“No, there’s also a chance that this is all my own fabrication. I could be pestering you unreasonably after having put a mark on Riff’s corpse myself. At the very least, this seems more likely than Amon being the culprit.”

Barbatos couldn’t reply.

He was asking her if she intended to deny her own goal for this match. He acknowledged the argument that a degree of coincidence could exist; however, if she were to make a counterargument like that, then where would her original goal of excluding all luck go? Was she going to deny their duel?

“Sorry. That was my mistake.”

She admitted honestly. This wasn’t a mystery drama meant for the sake of thoughtlessly digging up the truth. This was a duel that had its own set of rules and goals. Barbatos let out a sigh once she realized she had forgotten something as fundamental as this. She might’ve become desperate once she saw half the list of suspects get wiped out.

Thus, the second argument was restrained.

Dantalian spoke with a smile.

“Next, I’ll be getting rid of the entire Plains Faction from the list of suspects. Of course, excluding you.”

“W-What!?”

Barbatos’ eyes opened wide. Out of the 14 suspects that remained, 9 of them were a part of the Plains Faction. If you exclude Barbatos and remove the remaining 8 Plains Faction members on the list⎯then only 6 suspects would remain! She had to somehow prevent this!

“That’s ridiculous!”

“No, it’s possible. The Plains Faction is removed from the list of suspects simply because they’re the Plains Faction.”

Dantalian continued.

“All the members of the Plains Faction that participated in the hearing know very well about your declaration to protect me, Barbatos. They also know about how you had taken me on a tour through the city after the hearing was over. Now then, let’s suppose that a member of the Plains Faction left the mark on Riff’s corpse.”

Why would they do that, Dantalian asked himself out loud.

“If Belial is truly the culprit, then there would be no reason for them to go out of their way to let me get revenge. Paimon lost in a war of words only a few days ago, and yet, a member of the Mountain Faction had impudently attacked Dantalian shortly after the hearing. Adding to this, a member of the Plains Faction has proof of this act? ……If they played their cards right, then they could have dealt a huge blow to the Mountain Faction.”

And yet the Plains Faction remained silent.

They were satisfied with simply leaving a mark on Riff’s corpse. The Plains Faction didn’t react in any way even though Dantalian remained silent for an entire month. At the very least, they could have approached Dantalian and advised him to hold the Mountain Faction accountable.

“The two actions ‘be hostile to the Mountain Faction’ and ‘don’t attack the Mountain Faction’ contradict each other. Therefore, you can reach a single conclusion. They can’t attack the Mountain Faction even though they want to. Thus, they have no proof that Belial is the culprit!”

Dantalian raised the volume of his voice.

“Despite this, they framed Belial. Why? Why did they have to go through this complicated procedure just to frame Belial? What reason could there possibly be to utilize a scheme as grand as this simply to attack a mere rank 68 Demon Lord? A previous argument can be applied here as well. Because they’re weaker than Belial. However.”

Dantalian pointed at the large list with his index finger.

“As you can see, there’s no Plains Faction member that’s lower than Belial! The lowest ranking member of the Plains Faction is Rank 50 Furcas. There’s a whole 18 rank difference between them. I cannot fathom that an individual like that would leave the matter of getting retaliation in the hands of me, Dantalian, the weakest Demon Lord.”

“I object!”

Barbatos gnashed her teeth.

“You are theorizing under the premise that the Plains Faction’s goal is to frame Belial alone! That’s nonsense if I’ve ever heard it. If a member of the Plains Faction had left a mark on Riff’s corpse, then their goal would obviously not be Belial alone but the entire Mountain Faction! It doesn’t matter how much of a difference there is in ranks as we have plenty of reasons to frame Belial since he’s in the Mountain Faction!”

“I quite agree.”

Dantalian laughed. He continued speaking before Barbatos could feel uneasy about his laugh.

“It is as you said. Belial alone wasn’t the Plains Faction’s goal. Their aim was the entire Mountain Faction. But this raises a question: How much authority must this Demon Lord have to consider attacking the Mountain Faction without any proper evidence!”

“……!”

Barbatos held her breath.

She had blundered!

Dantalian made her admit that ‘if the Plains Faction framed Belial, then the individual in the Plains Faction must be someone powerful enough to be hostile against the entire Mountain Faction without any proof. If it’s like this, then⎯⎯.

“True to their name, the Mountain Faction is the greatest faction. The only ones who can handle them would be the entire Plains Faction. Among the members, there is only a single Demon Lord who could make the entire Plains Faction act.”

Dantalian pointed at her.

The leader of the Plains Faction. The one who despises the Mountain Faction the most.

“You’re the only one, Barbatos.”

“…….”

She realized that she had been driven into a corner.

There were definitely 32 suspects in the beginning; however, it wasn’t long before 14 people, 15 people were slowly removed and she found herself with the arrow pointed directly at her. The situation has been changed to a way where, if the Plains Faction is the culprit, then only Barbatos could be the mastermind.

“……Heh.”

She let out a laugh.

Barbatos had a slight feeling that Dantalian was about to win this match. This intuition of hers that had saved her life countless times. There were still counterarguments that could be made. It was, however, a decisive argument, so Dantalian would still end up winning, this was what she thought.

Barbatos has always sought out battles that had one’s honor on the line.

As a Demon Lord, honor resided in the act of conquering the human world. That was why she always stood at the forefront of the Crescent Alliance. Despite their numerous defeats, she continued to advance while believing that an honorable conclusion was awaiting her at the end. It didn’t matter whether the conclusion was victory or death.

Solely for the sake of combat, for an honorable battle.

2,000 years have passed. She has not yet been able to realize this desire of hers. The Crescent Alliance fell apart time and time again due to internal strife. There’s no honor in that. Cowardice and fear, jealousy and envy, and above all else, foolishness reigned supreme. Her comrades gradually grew exhausted. They turned their backs and some even left.

It’d be hard for even her to not grow tired after all this.

‘But if it’s this guy.’

The ends of Barbatos’ mouth lifted up.

If the guy in front of her stays at her side, then she might be able to give it her all again. She might be able to endure another 2,000 years. Different from how she would act according to her instincts and intuition alone, Dantalian could assist the Crescent Alliance with his intelligence and insidiousness. Perhaps the grand war which she had always dreamed about will actually unfold.

Therefore, let’s give him one final test.

Try breaking this last objection. I will test whether you’re worthy to support a Demon Lord army of tens of thousands.

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“What utter nonsense!”

Barbatos exclaimed. She had an amused smile on her face.

“Your statements are all under the assumption that the Plains Faction is the culprit! Dear me! Even if the Mountain Faction and Plains Faction are no longer under suspicion, there are still 6 suspects left! Including me, there are still 6 people left!”

She waved her hand. A scraping sound echoed once more. All the names of the members of the Plains Faction were marked off the list. Out of all their names, only Barbatos’ remained untouched.

“I give you my sincerest praise for the accomplishment of reducing the list of suspects from 32 to 6! Nonetheless, how do you intend to mark me out of the 6? Be it the Neutral Faction or those unaffiliated with any sides, there is a chance that one of them put a mark on Riff’s chest simply to create a discord between the Mountain Faction and the Plains Faction!”

She clenched her hand into a fist.

“Out of the 6 remaining suspects, there is someone weaker than Belial and that is Rank 70 Seere! As you stated before, they have more than enough reason to go out of their way to carry out these ‘complicated and tiresome procedures’. The weak can only rely on schemes to retaliate against the strong, after all. They might’ve been trying to gain something by using this opportunity to create a rift between you and Belial. Furthermore!”

Barbatos pointed at the very top of the list.

“The leader of the Neutral Faction, Rank 5 Marbas, that old man has disliked both the Mountain Faction and the Plains Faction for a long time now. If it’s that senile man, then he would have the nerve to frame the Mountain Faction without any evidence at all! Why would he care?! It’s more than possible for him to try and increase the strength of his Neutral Faction while the two other factions are busy fighting against one another!”

She smiled complacently.

Dantalian now had two points of logic: ‘there’s no reason for someone with a high rank to go out of their way to frame Belial’ and ‘there’s no reason for a low ranking person to be hostile against the entire Mountain Faction’. In the case of the former, then that included Rank 70 Seere, and in the case of the latter, Rank 5 Marbas would be included. Including Barbatos, there were at least 3 culprits.

“Why am I, Barbatos, the culprit of all people!?”

She was overflowing with excitement.

“Do you think you can defeat me!?”

Her heart pounded noisily.

“Show me your potential⎯your skills!”

Her voice echoed throughout the vast hall and reached all the way up to the distant ceiling. The 500 Death Knights must have noticed their master’s excitement as they growled. They opened and closed their large hands as if they would immediately tear apart this haughty brat, as if they would tear out his guts if their master so ordered them to.

Barbatos’ Demon Lord Palace was filled with bloodthirst. Even the Demon Lord herself was heating up. Currently, all of her senses were focused on one thing, Dantalian’s lips. How does he intend to refute this? No, is it even possible? If he can refute it, then how?

His lips moved.

“There is a fact which we’ve been overlooking. It is actually quite an important fact.”

A calm voice seeped into the Demon Lord Palace.

“The question about who had killed Riff.”

“…….”

Barbatos froze.

“Additionally, it’s also a question on when the marking was engraved on Riff’s corpse. When the corpse was discovered, there was a spell cast around Riff’s body to scare off animals and insects. The culprit most likely cast that spell around the same time as they put the marking on Riff’s body.”

She stood in a daze. She thought as she watched the lips that continued to move without stopping.

Aha.

I see.

So that can be used.

“Who could kill Riff and also cast a spell? It’s simple. There’s nothing special to think about. Among the members of Riff’s party, only two people managed to escape. Riff and the unknown mage. The mage killed Riff, put a mark on his corpse, and cast a spell around the body.”

In other words, the real match she had craved for the past 2,000 years. The conclusion she had yearned for.

“This then goes to the next question. Who was the mage? I immediately looked into the adventurer’s guild that was in the city which Riff resided in; however, the mage hired by Riff only appeared in the documents there. They weren’t signed up to the Mage Tower at all. An unknown existence. They exuded quite the suspicious stench.”

Even though this wasn’t a battlefield of clashing metal and bloodshed, would she experience it here?

“The mage seemed roughly like a Four Circle mage, in other words, a high-ranking mage. The issue is that the color of the mage’s mana was black. I immediately looked into the current 6 suspects. It might be because the suspects are Demon Lords who have been active for at least a few hundred years, but it was fairly easy to acquire information on both them and their vassals.”

She believed that it had been a long time.

“Among them, approximately 170 of them are mages. 21 of them are high-ranking mages above Four Circle. Out of these mages, only 3 of them have black mana. Now then, the list has narrowed. But there’s an issue here. All three of them aren’t human. Even though the mage that was active in Riff’s party was undoubtedly a female human. How could this be? We have to change our way of thinking here. Ah.”

She believed that she had endured reasonably well.

“They used a transformation spell. The transformation spell is a highly advanced Seven Circle spell. Hah! This makes things much simpler. Out of the 170 mages, only 3 of them are above Six Circle.”

She never had a friend with whom she could talk comfortably to. She went through muddy wars and political strifes while leading her waning faction all by herself.

As she recalled those days that had passed, Barbatos stared at the man before her blankly.

“Out of the last 3 remaining people, only one of them is an archmage with black mana.”

Dantalian was smiling.

“You.”

Silence.

A lull fell over the Demon Lord Palace.

Dantalian couldn’t see Barbatos’ expression anymore. She had lowered her head without him noticing. She was standing still and didn’t budge an inch. A long time passed before she slowly raised her right hand. 5 names were scraped off the list.

Rank 8 Barbatos.

Solely her name remained intact.

“Phew.”

Dantalian let out a sigh of relief. He had managed to refute the third and last counterargument. Something similar to the exhilaration one would feel after an intensive exercise regime spread throughout his entire body.

Only the thoughts about the Death Knights filled his head. Just thinking about how much 12 A-rank monsters would help him made him elated. A smile appeared on his face all on its own.

“Well, that’s what happened. It took quite some time before I figured all this out. I absolutely didn’t figure it all out in an instant.”

“…….”

“So you don’t have to give me too much. Haha. Honestly, 12 Death Knights might be a little too……? Barbatos?”

Dantalian paused. With her head still down, Barbatos was walking towards him one step at a time. Despite him inquiring what was wrong, he received no answer. She continued to approach him, before finally, Barbatos stood directly in front of him.

“…….”

“What’s the matter? Do you intend to fight me……huh?”

Her small hands grabbed onto Dantalian’s head.

“⎯⎯Mm!?”

It happened in the blink of an eye. She pulled his head down, and at the same time, she lifted her heels. Their difference in height disappeared. The distance between them diminished instantaneously. Lips and lips touched one another.

His eyes opened wide in shock. Barbatos was closing her eyes. Time flowed by like that for a brief second. With her hands still holding on to his head, she pulled her lips back slightly. She was smiling.

“Did you know? You’re really fucking cool right now.”

Before he could give her any sort of response, she brought her lips to his once more. This time it was a deep kiss.

Even the Death Knights didn’t seem to want to see their lord’s shameless behavior as they turned their heads away on their own. Within this wide and vast Demon Lord Palace, the sound of a man moaning resonated faintly.

***

TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I do have to admit that this definitely doesn’t feel as grand as it did in the LN, but I personally think it’s still decent. Nothing much else to say but I hope you guys continue to read my releases. I’ll be going at a steady pace.

I’ll see you guys in the next release.

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