CH 479

Chapter 479

Lucinil walked quietly near Port Mokna as night fell.

The Archdemon.

A new world created by the Demon King Valier.

A landscape where humans and demons coexist.

Lucinil never thought such a thing could be possible.

She believed that the long-standing hatred between humans and demons couldn't be resolved.

However, survival was ultimately an absolute issue for all beings.

The environmental limitations of an island.

The reality that the continent was teeming with monsters.

The reality that they had to choose between death or coexistence created this bizarre landscape where humans and demons lived together.

Lucinil felt a sad realization that such a thing was only possible after the world had come close to destruction.

The fact that such a scene had been created in the end evoked a strange wave of emotion in Lucinil.

The reasons and causes were complex, and Valier, who had created this environment, was also the cause of this situation.

However, in that situation, he persevered and tried to accomplish something. And in the end, he achieved something.

Therefore, Lucinil felt a mix of sadness, pride, and dignity.

It was an outer area beyond the fort walls.

There were no monsters roaming around, as if they were swept away periodically.

But even if there were roaming monsters, Lucinil was a Vampire Lord.

There could be no monster threatening Lucinil in such a change.

Thus, Lucinil walked through the outskirts of Port Mokna, observing the changed world.

In fact, it didn't seem to have changed that much.

It wasn't as if humans densely populated every corner of the continent, nor were monsters rampant everywhere.

All Lucinil saw was a moonlit landscape, with a gentle breeze blowing across the plains.

In a world close to destruction, the silver-haired vampire walked quietly through a scene that made him wonder what had really changed.

Reinhardt had disappeared in search of something.

The regent who filled his void was doing her best to fulfill her role.

The many relationships the Demon King had formed changed into peculiar bonds mediated by guilt.

Lucinil quietly contemplated Valier's appearance, which seemed unchanged but had changed too much in a short time.

As if there was an obsession with not showing any weakness.

The subtly cute charm had disappeared.

His existence had become the starting point of a tragedy, so the Demon King's heart must be broken.

However, nothing of the sort could be seen outwardly.

He didn't reveal his true feelings at all.

Feeling that he couldn't show even a hint of comfort, his heart seemed closed off, fearing that if he started to reveal his emotions, there would be no end.

As if he had a premonition that an even more miserable fate would befall him now that things had come to this.

Yet he acted as if he had to do something.

"Poor guy..."

Lucinil murmured to himself.

The Demon King had become stronger.

He merely pretended to be strong while hiding his shattered heart behind a thick curtain.

Although he didn't tell anyone where he was heading, the Demon King must have left to somehow overcome the fate given to him.

He could run like a tireless horse.

Lucinil had seen many such beings.

She had seen those who ran like tireless horses and achieved something.

However, she had seen even more of those who, at the end of their run, became exhausted and died.

Lucinil didn't know whether the fate approaching the Demon King would be a path to exhaustion and death, or a path to accomplishment.

However, the Demon King raced on, gritting his teeth and not revealing his broken self to anyone.

Having experienced a tremendous failure, he was determined not to fall apart, even if it meant being stubborn.

It wasn't that he had grown stronger, but rather, it bordered on obsession.

What could the Demon King be doing?

Where in which world could that pitiful fellow be wandering?

Having escaped from Edina's grasp, the Demon King seemed to have been waiting to head somewhere.

Lucinil stopped walking through the plains as night fell, suddenly halting her steps.

-Hisssssss

From somewhere, a chilling wind blew.

"…?"

Lucinil gazed at the moonlit hills.

Lucinil was a Vampire Lord.

Vampires were essentially undead.

Though they should be dead, they were living beings.

Therefore, though Lucinil lacked a soul, it was easier for her to sense spiritual entities compared to other living beings.

And Lucinil had researched souls more than any other being in the world.

As such, her ability to sense spiritual beings was far superior to that of other vampires.

A strange uneasiness emanated from the wind.

Lucinil could intuit that it was some sort of spiritual reaction.

Taking a deep breath, Lucinil focused her mind.

-Huhuhuhu…

-Uuuuuuuu…

Lucinil could read the strange cries and despair that blended with the wind.

Ghosts.

Ghosts entwined themselves around the Vampire Council. They couldn't affect living beings, but some spirits were attached to the very land itself.

Lucinil walked slowly toward the place where the eerie cries echoed, traversing the hills.

This was different from the monsters of the Gate.

This was a phenomenon native to this world.

Yet the eerie cries, as if the wind itself were wailing, drew Lucinil toward a certain place as if he were bewitched.

"What… is this?"

Lucinil could feel what other beings could not.

The anguished voices of despairing and vengeful ghosts painfully resonated in her ears.

She was in an outlying area far from Fort Mokna.

Beneath a massive rock in the midst of the rolling hills.

A huge, deep pit that seemed artificially created.

It was a cliff so cleverly hidden that it would be impossible to find unless one deliberately sought it.

Lucinil sensed that the eerie cries came from within that artificially created cave.

Below that pit.

Lucinil saw something dark writhing there.

It wasn't moving.

-Huhuhuhu…

-Uuuuuuuuuu…

But she could sense countless ghosts that couldn't leave this place, no matter how immense their grudges.

Narrowing her brows, Lucinil summoned a sphere of light and threw it down into the pit.

It was a pit so deep that its depth was unfathomable.

Only then could Lucinil see what the dark things below the pit were.

"What… what is this…?"

All of them.

They were the charred remains of human corpses.

—---

Liana had secured more survivors than she had reported to Edina.

However, she didn't send a considerable number of them to Edina. They remained undocumented and became nonexistent people.

They were murdered by Liana.

Hearing this, Harriet couldn't help but be shocked, while Charlotte stared at Liana with a dispassionate gaze.

"I thought you would find out eventually, but I didn't expect you to catch on so soon. And not Reinhardt, but you."

Up until now, neither Harriet nor Reinhardt had any inkling of what Charlotte had inferred simply by examining a few documents. They were entirely in the dark about what had transpired.

Regardless of her personal feelings toward Charlotte, Liana couldn't help but acknowledge her undeniable abilities.

"Liana... what are you talking about? Why... why did you... the people...?"

Charlotte remained silent, but the shock that Harriet experienced was immense.

All this time, without any report, Liana had been killing the survivors with her own hands.

If that were true, Liana would be both the savior of the most people in Edina and the one who had massacred countless innocents.

Liana stared quietly at the pale-faced Harriet.

"Reinhardt, he has had many close calls with death, hasn't he?"

"..."

Assassination attempts on the Demon King were not a rare occurrence. Reinhardt had nearly died on multiple occasions, and sharing a bedroom with Harriet was a recent precaution for this very reason.

"We can't allow any more impure elements into Edina."

In fact, there were countless people in Edina who despised the Demon King and wanted him dead.

However, up until now, they had managed to suppress them by force alone.

Moreover, it was impossible to predict how the demons, who were coexisting with humans under the rule of the Demon King, would react if he were to be eliminated.

Liana stared intently at Harriet.

"If we educate the refugees about the situation in Edina, do you know what would happen?"

"..."

"Do you think there would be anyone who, upon hearing about a society ruled by the Demon King and living alongside demons, would not prefer death to living in such a place?"

It wasn't just a simple opposition.

These people had lost something.

A nation governed by the very cause of their suffering, the Demon King.

There were those who would rather choose death than live in a place ruled by such a being.

There were those who despised the Demon King enough to want him dead.

But beyond that, there were those who hated the Demon King so much that they would prefer death to living under his rule.

Harriet's lips trembled with despair.

"Liana... just because they feel that way... does it mean... they need to be killed...?"

"Then what?"

Liana stared at Harriet.

"If they would rather die than go to Edina, forcing them there would put Reinhardt in danger. Do you think it's only Reinhardt? Harriet, you've had many close calls too. I may not like her, but Olivia is in the same boat. I don't want to fill Edina with extremist elements. But we can't send them there without education either. That could cause problems. With their numbers already growing into a significant force, do you think I should send even more people who might overthrow Edina? I can't do that. And if I don't send them? Should I feed and support them here for the rest of their lives? I can't do that either. Should I just drive them out to fend for themselves?"

The people they had saved would be cast out once again, back to the wastelands where monsters roamed.

Driven back to a land of nothing but death.

Death or exile.

"That's right, in the past, I actually drove them away like that. If they wanted to die so badly, I didn't want to dirty my hands, so I told them to go out and die. That's how I drove a considerable number of survivors back into the wilderness."

"I thought that as long as they somehow survived, everything would be fine. But you know what happened? Some of them actually did survive, and that's the real problem."

"Rumors are spreading about a place like this in the south. The rumors are likely spreading through the people I expelled."

"What do you think will happen if this reaches the Empire?"

"If the Empire learns about Fort Mokna, and that we've settled on a distant island in the south, what do you think will happen when the humans find out?"

"War, undoubtedly."

"I made a mistake. I made a huge mistake by expelling people who opposed Reinhardt and chose death over living under the Demon King's rule. I made the mistake of letting them live, knowing about our land and our territory."

"Ever since then, I've tried not to make such a mistake."

"That's all there is to it."

The problem wasn't that the expelled people died; it was that they lived.

Rumors about Fort Mokna began to spread from somewhere. People were gradually learning about the southern paradise, even though it wasn't known as the Demon King's land.

The Demon King, the symbol of hatred, and his realm.

Humanity's attack on Edina may begin someday.

If a large number of people learn about Edina, the Empire may be forced into war with them.

Just as they were pushed to execute the princess.

The wavering Empire might have to wage war against Darkland to restore its authority and unite humanity.

That's why Liana began to actually kill those who would rather choose death over living under the Demon King's rule.

Because if they lived, all of Edina might be in danger.