Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 525

It was late afternoon, at the designated meeting place.

“...?”

In a hidden spot on the outskirts of the army camp, Harriet saw a black cat approaching from afar.

“... A cat?”

As the cat drew closer, it gradually grew larger and took on a familiar human form, leaving Harriet dumbfounded.

“Reinhart?”

“...”

Reinhart’s complexion had become noticeably paler in the span of a day.

Harriet was bewildered by the appearance of the random cat that had somehow transformed into Reinhart. “What? You can transform into a cat? Since when?”

“Let’s... Let’s head back to Edina first. I’ll explain when we get there.”

Reinhart’s lips remained tightly sealed, and it seemed there were many reasons for that.

***

Within the royal castle of Rajak, the capital of Edina...

“... Ah. So you transformed into a cat because you couldn’t enter the Royal Class encampment in human form?”

“Yeah! But Sarkegar, that... that son of a... no, that cat left me there and ran off!”

Sarkegar had spent hours trying to teach me various things, but when I couldn’t seem to learn anything, he just gave up and abandoned me in the middle of the encampment.

He said it didn’t matter how I got there as long as I reached the camp, and that being cute would somehow work out.

He even said I could escape if things went south.

‘Sarkegar... I thought he was loyal. Maybe he holds some grudges against me?

‘Now that I think about it, it'd be awfully strange if he didn’t hold any grudges. Considering the long history of neglect, it’s actually a relief he let me off this easily.’

“M-my original plan was to transform into a cat, sneak about, eavesdrop a bit, and if I got caught, just rely on being cute to get by...”

“So things turned out the opposite?”

“... You could say that.”

In the end, not only did I end up attracting the attention of the entire Royal Class, but I even ended up spending a night in Ellen’s tent.

Although it all turned out for the best in the end, there was too much that I didn’t want to recall.

“Connor Lint, that bastard...” I said.

“Connor Lint? Why, what did he do?”

“... Never mind. It’s nothing.”

“What happened? Tell me.”

I didn’t even want to think about it.

“Is he the type to harm animals?”

“No, it’s not that...”

“Then why are you upset?”

To be fair, he had been nice to me.

He had been nice, and he had tried to take care of me. Also, if it weren’t for him, I might have become a Lily!

“No, I really don’t want to talk about it...”

“... Something must have happened.”

Although things had gone completely differently from what I had expected, the results were surprisingly good.

Instead of having to spy on them, I got to observe the members of the Royal Class up close, one by one. I got to know how Adriana was doing, and I even got to see Ellen, whom I most wanted to check on, up close.

Ellen was a demigod, and she was clearly enduring the situation with the spirits better than I had.

The spirits had tried to kill me outright, but they had no reason to kill Ellen, which might explain the difference.

I didn’t know how long it would last, but Ellen was definitely enduring it better than I was.

However, even the demigod Ellen might eventually be consumed by the raging spirits, and that outcome would be even more terrifying.

Sarkegar had stayed back at the encampment to gather more information, so I was the only one who returned.

“By the way, what about the other units?”

“They’re probably still on their missions. We finished ours very early.”

“True.”

Thanks to Riana summoning a snowstorm and turning the area into a deadly snowfield, our mission had ended quickly.

The other units led by the Vampire Lords were still on their missions.

Once the Allied Forces moved to a new spot, we would recommence clearing out the monsters ahead of them.

I also checked the situation at the encampment.

“What about Heinrich?”

At this point, this was something almost as important as Ellen’s situation.

“I sent him a letter through Sarkegar...”

I had warned him about it, but the future was still uncertain.

***

Knowing that letters were being delivered to the Royal Class garrison and other places within the camp, slipping a letter to him through Sarkegar was no big deal.

Though the contents were simple, the message they carried was heavy.

I didn’t think it would solve everything.

“Will a letter be enough?” Harriet asked anxiously.

“Sure, we could meet and speak directly...” I replied.

“Yeah, so wouldn’t it be better to have a proper conversation?”

I fully agreed with Harriet’s opinion.

In fact, Harriet had spoken to Ellen in such a manner, although it wasn’t an incident I wanted to recall.

“But the source of the information also matters.”

“...”

“What guarantee do we have that Heinrich will blindly trust me? He might think it’s a ploy to disrupt the Allied Forces.”

Only a few knew the truth about the Gate Incident, so only a few would know of the sincerity behind my words, and Heinrich wasn’t among them.

Contacting Vertus would be dangerous for him, not me, and I couldn’t contact Ellen anymore.

At best, I could only meet her in the form of a cat, as I had this time. But that was painful in its own way.

She had asked me to come again, but I had never intended for things to turn out that way. Would visiting Ellen regularly be a good thing for her? Did visiting Ellen as a cat have any meaning?

It might not be entirely meaningless, but it didn’t seem to have much significance either.

The situation had taken a strange turn, and I started to worry that Ellen might feel disappointed if I didn’t visit her.

‘Sarkegar, you were too irresponsible. When you return, I’m gonna... Ugh... I can’t say anything because of all the wrongs I’ve done to you.’

It was impossible to blame Sarkegar, whom I had neglected the most thus far.

In the end, the information gathering mission had been more successful than I’d expected.

Perhaps I could meet with Sabioleen Tana, but meeting with her would pose the same issues as meeting with Vertus.

It was best to avoid having secret talks with anyone from the Allied Forces while bearing the Dark Land’s name.

“Among those who lived with me at the Temple, there are more than a few who would flip out and try to kill me if they saw me. That goes for you, Olivia, and Riana as well.”

They might forgive a cat, but they would never forgive me. That was only natural.

It wasn’t just because the world had turned upside down because of me.

Most of the students had lost their homes and families, unless they were from the capital=.

I would no longer be seen as a friend, but as a mortal enemy.

And while I had been pampered as a kitten in the dining hall, I had eavesdropped on the conversations among the students all day long.

While most of the attention had been on me, I also heard about things beyond that.

Even within the lively atmosphere created by the sudden appearance of a kitten, I could feel the despair, hatred, and desire for revenge simmering underneath, most notably around Ludwig. Something significant had changed within him after Ashir’s death.

As for Cliffman, while I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, the once shy and awkward Cliffman was still quiet, but in a different way.

Whenever the topic of the Demon King came up, the mood would sink, whether among seniors or juniors.

Despair, hatred, a longing for revenge—I could sense it all, even wrapped up in the cheerful atmosphere brought on by the sudden appearance of a kitten.

Seeing it with my own eyes was different from just hearing about it.

Observing the atmosphere of the Royal Class through the eyes of a cat made it abundantly clear. There were many who would never forgive me.

Would knowing the detailed circumstances behind it all change anything?

In the end, the fact that my subordinates had triggered the Gate Incident would never change.

What if people found out that Ellen, Charlotte, Vertus, and the Gradias Imperial Family were also responsible? No one would forgive me; and they would hate Ellen and the empire along with me.

That information would merely bring to birth an era of endless hatred, until everything was destroyed. That was what my eyes showed me.

Heinrich hadn’t lost his family, but he was counted among those people who hated me.

If I or any one of my people went and told him the truth, he would approach us with suspicion, not trust.

That was why it was better to remain anonymous.

If he knew that I was the source of this information, he might not believe me.

And if humanity learned the truth about the Gate Incident, it would be an even bigger problem.

They would find out that the fundamental blame for the Gate Incident lay with me and the imperial family, and that we’d been hiding it all along.

It was better not to know the truth.

That knowledge would only be the seed of division within the Allied Forces.

“But... how can you be sure it will turn out that way?” Harriet asked.

I quietly looked out the window.

I knew the future. But that no longer mattered, since the future I knew had changed.

Except for that future that the Preview function had shown me.

“Sometimes, things that happen between people can be surprisingly predictable.”

People remained the same, and the dynamics of power remained the same.

If none of those things changed, then the events that were supposed to happen would continue to happen as expected.

Harriet seemed to find my words puzzling.

Heinrich von Schwartz was an abandoned prince. As a child, he had accidentally killed his siblings when his powers awakened.

That’s why he had been sent to the Temple.

That was why I had no fear of any repercussions when I beat up Heinrich early on in my time at the Temple. I knew the Kernstadt royal family had no interest in him.

“Still, you can’t predict everything... and besides, this isn’t my area of expertise...”

I only knew about the characters and events that I had written about. I did not have a strong understanding of the complex dynamics of politics.

For any future matters, I needed the assistance of an expert. As always, there could be something I didn’t know. There was no guarantee that there were no hidden surprises in this case as well.

Charlotte would be able to tell me what more I needed to do or know.

I finished discussing things with Harriet.

“But you know...” Harriet said.

“Huh?” I replied.

Harriet’s face turned red. “I want to see it too.”

“What? See what?”

“I didn’t see it properly just now.”

‘Ah... I think I know what she’s talking about.’

“Why do you want to see it so badly?” I asked.

“It’s just fascinating. Can’t I see it? Can’t I? Huh? Huh? Huh?” Harriet demanded repeatedly, her voice full of excitement.

‘Why is she so eager to see something like that?’

I didn’t particularly like cats.

I had no reason to like cats that made strange noises during mating season, and I’d never even raised one, of course.

I’d just assumed it would be easier to hide and not get leashed as a cat. And since kittens were generally cute, I chose to turn into that.

But when everyone at the Royal Class garrison showed up to see me, I wondered why they were so excited about something like this.

‘To be fair, the kitten I turned into did seem rather cute, but... Is something as trivial as cuteness enough to draw that much attention? Even in the middle of a bleak and desolate battlefield? Was that just how cute I was? Even Ellen’s interest was unexpected!

‘Still, I don’t like transforming into a cat! I still don’t know how to control a cat’s body well, and I don’t know what to do! I can walk and run, but I don’t get anything beyond that!’

“Please! Please! Please do it. Please?”

‘If I don’t do it, will she cry? Why does she want to see it so much?’

Seeing Harriet this excited was so rare that it made me even more flustered.

“... No, really... How did it come to this...”

In the end, I gave in. I couldn’t refuse Harriet when she was acting like this. I couldn’t turn away from Harriet’s sparkling eyes.

I used Sarkegar’s ring again.

After a short while, Harriet looked down at me, now in the form of a small black cat.

‘Oh. But, uh. Now that I’m small... uh. The angle... uh.’

“... Hey! You!”

Harriet quickly used her hands to close the opening of her skirt.

Meow! fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

‘Wait, no! You’re the one who asked me to transform! How was I supposed to know this would happen?! This is only my second time transforming, so I didn’t think about the details!’

Harriet stepped back, her face flushed, and then knelt down to look at me.

“W-wow...”

Harriet approached me, now in cat form, on her knees and picked me up.

Meow!

“Ah! So cute!” Harriet exclaimed as she hugged me tightly.

As expected, she was full of reactions.

“I love you!”

Meow!

‘Hey! My back’s going to break!’

***

Harriet de Saint-Ouen, the secretary of Edina, suddenly began wandering around the castle with a cat in her arms.

“Secretary? You have a cat?”

“Yes! Isn’t it cute?!”

“Oh, uh. Yes... It’s, it’s cute...”

Harriet showed off her newly-acquired black cat, which had a somewhat sour expression, to the court retainers, squealing about how cute it was.

The cat seemed reluctant to be held, but Harriet proudly showed it off to everyone she encountered.

Everyone liked seeing the usually mature and serious secretary smiling brightly, which was much more appropriate for someone her age.

Many feared the Demon King, but the secretary left a good impression on everyone.

As she wandered around the castle, it was inevitable that she would run into certain people.

“... What’s with the cat?”

One of them was Olivia Lanche, who had come to the castle to discuss matters related to the Holy Order after returning from a mission.

“Look, unnie. isn’t it cute?”

“... Cute? Why does the cat look so grumpy? And I don’t like cats. They’re arrogant animals.”

“Hmm?”

Harriet flashed a triumphant smile, and Olivia narrowed her eyes at Harriet’s mysterious smile.

“Hah, it seems like you’re trying to refresh your image with a cat because you’re running out of attributes, but you’re disqualified for not being able to seduce Reinhart after sharing a room with him for over half a year.”

“Hahaha, is that so?”

Harriet’s condescending gaze caused Olivia’s expression to freeze. A fearful suspicion crossed her mind.

“...? What? What do you mean...?”

“Hmph, I don’t know about that, but look.”

Harriet lifted the cat high and kissed the black cat.

Meow!

“Isn’t it cute?”

“... What a strange, bizarre thing.”

And then, Olivia saw it.

The cat in Harriet’s arms suddenly transformed into a human.

“Hey, you! What are you doing!” Reinhart demanded angrily while covering his mouth, his face flushed.

“What?! I can kiss my cat if I want to!”

“Why am I your cat!”

“What, what, what... What is this? What’s going on?” Olivia watched in a daze as the cat-turned-human complained.

About three seconds. That was how long it took Olivia to understand what was going on.

“You... you... you little brat!” Olivia shouted, and Harriet laughed heartily, her laughter echoing through the castle.

“Reinhart, me too! I like dogs!” Olivia said.

“What are you both talking about!”

Olivia’s plea, yet not quite a plea, was for Reinhart to transform into a dog.

Reinhart tried to transform into a wolf-sized dog to startle Olivia, but Olivia actually liked that, saying that the bigger, the better.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by f(r)eew𝒆bn(o)vel.com