Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 460 [Illustration]

Even after replacing all the palace staff with those who had lost nothing in the Gate Incident, such incidents continued to occur.

All humans harbored some degree of hatred towards me, and I couldn’t fill the palace staff entirely with demons who would obey me unconditionally. Issues of discrimination and the subjugation of humanity would arise, and only provoke greater backlash.

It wasn’t just me; these attacks were also aimed at Harriet. Since they couldn’t kill me, they tried to kill those around me.

There were other incidents as well.

I once woke up to find that Antirianus had tied me up and was laughing at me from outside the palace. He asked me what I thought would have happened if it had been a mage from the empire or the Black Order who had entered my room instead of him.

While it had been an act born out of Antirianus’s twisted sense of humor, the memory of that day still sent chills down my spine. I realized that I was only safe because the empire and the Black Order didn’t know my location. If a mage of Antirianus’s caliber wanted to kill me, they could take my life at any time.

Although I wasn’t completely unprotected, those defenses could be breached at any moment. Therefore, since then, Harriet and I had been sharing a bedroom, and it had become a habit to surround the room with numerous magical alarms and barriers that almost completely sealed off the room before sleeping.

At first, both Harriet and I felt awkward and tossed and turned through the night, but over time, we grew accustomed to it.

Rumors inevitably spread that the Demon King shared a bedroom with his secretary every night.

Surprisingly, Olivia didn’t get angry about it. She knew how much I was suffering from the constant threat of assassination, and she was more concerned about my well-being.

Anyway, it had essentially become a known fact that Harriet and I were in a relationship akin to marriage, but there was nothing I could do about that.

In truth... At this point, I wondered if there was much difference.

Harriet, in some respects, was more adept at handling situations than the archmages of the Senate. Whenever we were faced with a crisis, I handled the physical threats while Harriet dealt with the magical ones. Naturally, we spent the most time together, protecting each other because our skills complemented each other.

Harriet, having finished drying her hair, sat on her bed and placed a scroll book on top of the bedside drawer.

“I’ve put in teleport scrolls. There are more than twenty, so you can use them whenever you need to in an emergency.”

“Got it.”

“Should I come with you?” Harriet asked, staring at me intently with her hair down.

“No, I don’t expect to see anything pleasant there. I’ll go alone. It won’t be dangerous,” I replied.

I planned to disguise myself with Sarkegar’s ring, so there was no risk of my identity being discovered. Knowing the situation, the sights that I would come across in the empire’s territory wouldn’t be pleasant for anyone to see.

I intended to go quietly and return quietly.

I lay down on my bed. Harriet took out a magical tome she was going through and leaned against the headboard of her bed, placing the book between her knees, and began reading from the middle. The soft yellow glow of magical light illuminated the book Harriet was reading.

“You always tell me to sleep, but do you ever sleep yourself?” I asked.

“I sleep as much as I need to,” Harriet replied, gesturing for me to go to sleep without even looking at me.

I was busy, but Harriet, who had to coordinate my tasks and ensure the safety of the bedroom, was undoubtedly very tired as well.

Honestly, I was aware of it too. At some point, Harriet’s magical achievements had stagnated. Although she conducted her desired magical research whenever she had time, the very limited time she had meant she had not been able to achieve much.

Harriet was more suited to being a researcher than a practitioner. However, there was no one else like her, and I had no one else I could trust. Her abilities were so exceptional that she had taken on the role of my secretary and bodyguard.

With so much to do, she couldn’t do what she truly wanted.

So, in the short time before sleep, when all she had to do was watch over me as I slept, Harriet took the opportunity to read.

I thought Harriet would have liked Akasha. But Akasha was gone, and the long-accumulated magic within Akasha, which even we didn’t fully comprehend, had been turned into an alternate dimension of emptiness.

How many spells had been in Akasha? We would never truly know.

I listened to the quiet sound of pages being turned carefully, so as not to disturb my sleep. I looked at Harriet’s profile as she read.

“Thick-skull.”

“Yeah.”

She didn’t even look up when I called her a thick-skull anymore.

In truth, I didn’t call her that outside to maintain her dignity as a secretary. It was only when we were alone, like this, that I could call her what I used to back in those days.

Maybe that was why Harriet didn’t get angry. Because she knew that it was only in this moment that I could call her that.

“Thank you,” I said out of the blue.

Harriet looked at me with a gentle smile.

“Same,” she replied.

What was she thankful for? I always felt like I was the one receiving, never giving anything in return.

I did not understand her response.

Harriet turned her eyes back to her book, and I closed my eyes.

***

With a flash, dozens of people appeared in the middle of the square through a warp point.

Since warp gates were currently unusable, long-distance travel could only be achieved manually by mages capable of casting Mass Teleport.

Just like in the Edina Archipelago, only a small number of elite individuals could do this. Those who had appeared at the designated warp point were Ellen and those directly assigned to her unit.

Ellen had just completed her latest mission. She would be giving her report in the capital, and was scheduled to be deployed to the next location immediately.

—Whoa...

—It’s the Hero...

Ellen Artorius was a celebrity whose fame exceeded the meaning of that word. In fact, given the state of the empire, Ellen enjoyed more support from the public than even the emperor.

Therefore, it was only natural that people gathered around Ellen like clouds.

“Hero! Our savior!”

“Hero, where are you going this time?”

“Hero... Thank you for saving us!”

Ellen had saved countless people. An immeasurable number.

“Hero! You’re amazing!”

.

.

“Hero!”

.

.

“Hero, please watch over us...”

.

.

“Hey sis, why don’t you come to the capital more often?”

.

.

Ellen was so accustomed to this that the scene no longer felt strange. However, Ellen was afraid of all these people, filled with grief and despair, projecting their hope onto her.

She was the root cause of all this, yet the people believed in her. They loved her, and blamed everything on the Demon King.

There should not have been any need for her to run around saving people like that.

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If only she had trusted Reinhart back then, none of this would have happened.

She hadn’t saved the people. Everyone had been thrown into this pit of despair, unable to even have proper clothes and reduced to wearing rags, all because of her.

“I love you, Hero!”

The sight of so many people finding hope in her terrified Ellen.

‘It’s all my fault,’ she thought. ‘It’s my mistake. Don’t like me. Don’t love me. Hate me. The one who should be hated isn’t the Demon King, but me.’

Ellen was sometimes seized by the urge to say such things, but she could not deliberately plunge those who had found hope in her into despair.

She could not feed these people, who endured their miserable lives by hating the Demon King and believing in the Hero, the bitter pill of truth that would lead them to despair.

They sought salvation in Ellen. That was why the people swarming the capital did not turn into an angry mob.

If Ellen were to say that everything that had happened was because of her mistake, the people would not believe her at first, but even so, it would be a problem. The moment the crowds realized that this situation was due to the mistakes of the Hero and the leaders of the empire, the empire would collapse. And if the empire collapsed, humanity would be lost.

“Hey unnie, you’ll kill the Demon King, right?” a young girl asked as she clung to Ellen’s arm.

“Ah...”

The eyes of those who believed that killing the Demon King would bring peace to the world... From the hopeful eyes of children to the hate-filled eyes of the elderly...

As the symbol of humanity’s hope, Ellen feared the day she might be forced to stand before Reinhart.

***

At the Central Palace Tetra...

“There are no problems in the capital of Kernstadt, Koellen. The important thing to decide on is which satellite city to start rebuilding first.”

“Yeah.”

Ellen had completed her mission report and was discussing future plans with Vertus.

She quietly observed Vertus’s tired expression.

Even the powerful vassal states had only succeeded in defending a few cities, including their capitals.

The empire, having reclaimed all its direct territories, now had to decide which vassal states to support. They were planning to begin the restoration work in Kernstadt, which could be considered the first vassal state.

All the warp gates within Kernstadt’s territory had already been destroyed, so they only needed to eliminate the monsters hiding throughout the city. But that was easier said than done, and many soldiers, knights, and mages would die in the process. Human resources had to be consumed in order to restore the empire.

“What do you think?” Vertus asked.

“I think it’s better to clear the areas around the cities that have successfully defended themselves, rather than trying to reclaim each city one by one. There are likely very few survivors in the cities that have already fallen. I think that work can be done gradually,” Ellen replied.

“... Yeah, that makes sense,” Vertus said, crossing his arms and pondering.

“How is Charlotte...?” Ellen asked, and Vertus clicked his tongue in response.

“... The same as always.”

Ellen was the hero of the empire. As much as she was tired of hearing requests to kill the Demon King, she was equally tired of hearing the slander about the princess.

They said the princess was cursed and warned Ellen to be careful of her, as she might bring harm to the hero.

Ellen, who was often away from the capital, would check on Charlotte’s condition whenever she returned. After all, Ellen was the princess’s guardian knight. But just like Vertus, Ellen couldn’t get Charlotte to open her closed lips.

Though Charlotte didn’t speak, she would burst into tears upon seeing Ellen. Just as Ellen blamed herself, Charlotte did the same.

The moment they saw each other, both were reminded of their guilt that stemmed from their inability to trust Reinhart, the root of all these events. Just as Ellen believed everything was her fault, Charlotte believed everything was hers.

Even without any conversation, every time Ellen witnessed Charlotte’s sobbing, she couldn’t help but understand Charlotte’s feelings.

However, it seemed most of the populace now desired the princess’s death.

“Is there anything else needed on the field?” Ellen asked.

“As always, we need Power Cartridges,” Vertus replied.

“Of course... I don’t know when we’ll be able to establish a mass production system.”

Power Cartridges and Moonshine...

As intended by Reinhart, who had had them created in anticipation of the Gate Incident, Power Cartridges had become the most crucial type of equipment on the battlefield.

Mages drawing power from these cartridges could bring forth immense power in battle.

The skills of close-combat specialists who consumed Moonshine were rapidly improving. In fact, the number of those awakening Mana Reinforcement was increasing exponentially.

This peculiar phenomenon was offsetting the loss of military strength in raw numerical terms by increasing the strength of the existing forces.

Vertus had thought that these items had been created to strengthen the Demon King’s army, but they had become indispensable to the war effort.

Only after all this had happened did Vertus realize that the choice he could never have made was the only correct one: he should have let the Demon King go.

Despite knowing that regret was useless, Vertus was tormented by it. Everyone in this situation blamed themselves.

Charlotte blamed herself.

Ellen blamed herself.

Vertus, too, believed all the responsibility lay with him.

“Anything else worth mentioning?” Vertus asked.

Ellen remained silent for a moment, then something came to mind.

“I heard there’s talk of a paradise in the south,” she said.

“Paradise?”

“Yeah, it seems like another strange... belief... is spreading.”

“... I see. I can see why people want to believe in something like that.”

In such times of overwhelming despair, strange rumors could easily be fabricated.

Therefore, Vertus dismissed this latest rumor as nonsense.