漫画大王

Chapter 6

Wow... I had done everything to escape the damn castle, and now I was on a horse going back toward it.

It was my first time riding a horse, but with the officer holding me firmly in place, I managed to endure the uneasiness.

“Can’t you explain the situation in more detail? The castle is under siege now, so why would his life be in danger?”

I couldn’t be sure if this person was one of Vertus’s associates or not. However, I quickly realized that he was young.

Had Vertus recruited junior officers to his side as well? I pondered for a moment, but for now, this person was helping me.

“I’ll tell you after we find Sir William!”

“Fine!”

I didn’t need to convince him further since I’d already secured the help I needed from him. Although my buttocks were sore from riding for the first time and it felt like I might suffer a grievous injury at any time, it wasn’t the time to worry about such discomfort.

When we arrived, the Demon King’s castle was a mess, bearing the marks of the battle. And all across the nearby plains, captured demons were chained together like fish caught in a giant net. Not all demons had perished; there were demons who had surrendered and become prisoners as well.

I felt a strange sense of relief that not everyone in the Demon Realm had died. However, the fact that I, their Prince, was running away made me feel guilty, as I was basically betraying them.

“What will happen to those demons over there?” I asked, despite the urgency of the situation.

“If it were a war between humans, they might have been ransomed or something. But they’re demons,” he responded as if wondering why I had asked such a stupid question. “We’ve taken them prisoner for now, but what else can we do but kill them?”

There was no point sparing the lives of someone from a different race. This war was a genocide, and the ultimate aim of each side was to annihilate the other race.

The thought of this weighed on my mind. Even if I convinced myself that I was just a regular person who happened to end up in the body of a Demon Prince, the awful feeling within me was not about to be washed away that easily. The officer and I continued to ride past the endless line of prisoners.

***

The exposed castle walls were damaged in various places and littered with countless corpses. The sight of human and demon bodies strewn about was horrific just to look at.

“It’s a sight not suitable for kids,” the officer said as if he were considerate of my youth. He covered my eyes as he spoke to shield me from the gruesome scenes.

It was impossible to count how many humans and demons had died. We passed through the destroyed castle gate and came upon a massive line of wagons.

Supplies from the Demon King’s castle were being transported out.

The Demon Realm was conquered, and its riches were to be split among the victors; after countless years of war, the humans had prevailed, marking the end of an era. And it was not just the territory; more important were the resources captured.

The nations that participated in the Great War divided the resources of the Demon Realm among themselves, acquiring immense wealth. The novel\'s setting was therefore the golden age of humanity, an era of unprecedented prosperity—obtained, of course, by spilling the blood of demons.

Yet, I had never imagined that I would witness this spectacle from a demon’s perspective. In the end, it seemed the war was nothing but a looting spree as numerous military forces swept through the Demon King’s castle in a storm of blood.

Wagons filled with resources continuously departed, while empty ones kept arriving. The officer escorted me to the command post within the castle, which was overseeing material transport and search operations.

The officer saluted to someone who appeared to be the Commanding General.

“Second Lieutenant Dyrus of the 11th Company’s 3rd Platoon within the 4th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Imperial Corps reporting!”

He declared his rank and title with a stern and formal expression. Second Lieutenant Dyrus—I’d unintentionally found out who he was. It made sense that he belonged to the cavalry division, given his ability to ride well even with me in the saddle with him.

The Commanding General did not seem to recognize Second Lieutenant Dyrus. His ignorance of Dyrus made sense since a Second Lieutenant was far lower in rank than a Commanding General.

“What’s going on?” the Commanding General asked.

The grim-looking, highly-ranked officer who appeared to be in charge of the situation alternated his gaze between me and the junior officer who had brought me. His expression was clearly one of irritation, and it was evident that he was expecting a proper explanation from Dyrus for bringing someone who wasn’t a soldier there.

“This boy has been brought here to deliver an urgent message from the Supreme Commander to Sir William. It seems to be confidential information, so I haven’t been informed of what exactly it is,” Dyrus explained.

“Huh?” The Commanding General’s frown deepened as my little white lie grew larger and larger.

But, to my surprise, he did not ask why the Supreme Commander would give such information to someone like me.

“Ah...” His expression stiffened slightly.

What he was about to say was easily predictable.

“I just received a report that Sir William has fallen in battle during the search for the remnants of the demon forces within the castle,” the Commanding General said.

Vertus’s men had acted before me.

My expression stiffened, as did Dyrus’s.

“Is this message something that I should be made aware of as well?” the Commanding General inquired.

“No sir! The message was intended for Sir William personally,” I replied.

“It’s unfortunate. Those damned demon bastards,” the Commanding General’s expression was filled with anger as he thought about the loss of such an excellent knight.

No, it was not the demons who had caused Sir William’s death, but the humans.

“Lieutenant, this boy shouldn’t be here. Hurry back,” the Commanding General said.

“Yes sir!!” the junior officer acknowledged.

Fortunately, the Commanding General didn’t probe further about the contents of the message or my identity. He seemed too busy to even consider such things, given his current focus was on overseeing the search operations within the castle.

As we exited the command center, Lieutenant Dyrus grabbed my shoulder.

“How is this possible? How did the Supreme Commander know that Sir William was in danger?” he asked.

What I had told Lieutenant Dyrus—about Sir William’s life being in danger—had quickly become a reality. I looked at the lieutenant standing before me. I knew that he didn’t have much authority or power, but now that Sir William had been killed, I needed someone else to assist me.

“It wasn’t the Supreme Commander who sent me,” I confessed.

“What?” he responded.

I hoped revealing the truth to him would not turn out to be a mistake.

“It was Her Highness the princess.”

***

In a secluded corner of the castle, I explained the desperate situation to Lieutenant Dyrus. I told him that I’d been held captive inside the castle with the princess and that both of us had been rescued.

“So, you’re saying Sir William wasn’t killed in battle with the demons, but by our own allies?” he asked.

“Yes, probably...”

“I can’t even fathom how tough it had to have been for Princess Charlotte in prison, and yet, they’re trying to kill her as soon as she was rescued? Damn it.”

He seemed shocked that there were people on his side who were considering committing such horrible acts toward the princess.

“So, you intend to rescue the princess, right?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Good. I respect your courage.”

He patted me on the back, seemingly appreciative of the determination I had to save the princess despite my lack of power. He also seemed stunned by the fact that, even with the victory over the demons, there was still an internal dispute within the human ranks.

“We can’t leave the princess in danger like that. I’ll assist Her Highness too.”

The fact that Sir William had been killed by someone on his side in the castle, where numerous eyewitnesses were, meant that Vertus’s associates were widespread within the army.

“We must return to Her Highness as soon as possible. I may not be as skilled as Sir William, but an extra pair of eyes should help her situation greatly,” he suggested.

“Yes, we should go back.”

Fortunately, Lieutenant Dyrus seemed to have a strong sense of justice, and it appeared as if he wasn’t about to allow such events to occur. While he didn’t explicitly say it, it was implied that he was ready to sacrifice his life to protect the princess.

As I was about to tell them that we needed to return as quickly as possible, a thought crossed my mind.

“Wait, Lieutenant.”

“What is it? We need to get back quickly, so speak fast.”

I pointed at the numerous supply carts.

“There is a way to provide the princess with immediate protection.”

We had come all the way back to the Demon King\'s castle, and I wasn’t just going to go back empty-handed.

“This is the Demon King’s castle,” I continued.

“Yes, what’s your point?”

“When we were rescued, I saw a storage room where magical scrolls are kept. Maybe we should look for a teleportation scroll there?”

While teleportation spells didn’t work within the castle, it was likely that it could be used back at the base.

With that scroll, we could promptly move the princess somewhere safe. If the magical supplies inventory hadn’t been looted yet, the teleportation scroll I had attempted to use before was likely to still be there.

Using a teleportation spell with the help of a mage back at the base wasn’t an option. It was likely that they were also on Vertus’s side.

Dyurs appeared hesitant. He seemed uncertain about searching for a scroll that wasn’t even guaranteed to exist at such an urgent moment.

However, I knew the location of the teleportation scroll. We could leave the castle as soon as I confirmed whether the magic supplies inventory had been looted or not.

“Damn it, fine. I probably wouldn’t be of much help anyways even if I were to stay with the princess.” He nodded, acknowledging the limitations of his own abilities.

While I still wasn’t sure of the layout of the Demon King\'s castle, I tried my best to go through my memories and recall the route I had taken before I reached the prison cell.

Numerous soldiers were bustling in and out of the castle so entering the castle was not difficult.

“It’s over here.” I directed the Lieutenant.

I drew curious glances as I was walking around unarmed, but I couldn’t spare the time to address each one of the people we passed to explain what I was doing. Fortunately, I was able to retrace my steps and determine the approximate location.

The Demon King’s castle was incredibly vast, and the magic supplies inventory and the prison cells were situated deep within the building, so it was unlikely that it had been looted.

“This castle is unbelievably massive!” exclaimed Lieutenant Dyrus in astonishment.

I became so tired that he had to carry me around on his back. I pointed in the direction that I remembered, and luckily, we were able to reach our destination without getting lost.

“The magical supplies inventory looks untouched!” I exclaimed.

Fortunately, it seemed like no one had been here yet, and everything appeared to be in good condition.

“... Well, it doesn’t look untouched; it looks like someone made a mess digging through all the scrolls,” The Lieutenant commented.

Oops, my bad.

“Oh, that... Y-yeah, but at least the scrolls are still here!”

“Good. Let’s find it quickly.”

I quickly picked up the teleportation scroll that was lying on the floor.

“Found it!”

“Already?”

“Yes, here it is.”

The scroll contained an incantation that was written in a language common to both humans and demons, so there was no need to explain how I’d found it right away. If the incantations had been written in the demon language, however, it might have raised unnecessary suspicion. In fact, as the author, I knew both the languages of this world, which was like having a cheat code.

I sealed the unused scroll back up. This teleportation scroll only worked for a single person. There might have been some other variation of the scroll where mass teleportation was possible, but I didn’t know if they existed, so we needed to find more scrolls.

It wasn’t just Charlotte that needed to be rescued, but me as well, and I was just as desperate to get out.

“We need a few more teleportation scrolls since we don’t know what might happen. Let’s also grab some other useful scrolls as well while we’re at it,” I said.

“Hey kid, use this.”

“This is...?”

“It’s a scroll book. You’ve never seen one before? There was one here.”

The book he handed me was empty.

“No, I know what it is.”

“Good. Let’s grab them quickly.”

I knew what a scroll book was. It didn’t contain any magical abilities on its own, but it was a tool that allowed one to insert individual scrolls on each page. Whenever the situation requires it, the user could use a scroll by tearing the required page. It was often used by those who needed to use magic in combat situations but weren’t necessarily mages themselves.

It was an object I had thought of, so I had to know what it was. However, seeing something I had only imagined actually in my hands felt very surreal.

Since I couldn’t stuff every scroll into my pocket, the scroll book actually came in handy. I started to fill the scroll book with useful scrolls. Dyrus had also found an extra scroll book, and was filling it with spells as well.

“Wow, even the low-level scrolls are worth more than my monthly salary. The Demon King\'s castle sure is something else.”

Dyrus seemed genuinely amazed by the staggering quantity of scrolls the castle had.

“We used up nearly all of the scrolls during this recent war. If we take all this with us, we’ll have enough to replenish all the scrolls we’ve used,” said Dyrus as he continuously dug through the pile of scrolls.

We didn’t find any large-scale offensive scrolls to take, but we gathered all the scrolls that could be of help. When I’d first come across this room, I’d been in a situation where I had to throw all my belongings away and could only take the minimum with me, but now, I was collecting everything I could.

While collecting the scrolls, my eyes suddenly lit up.

“I found it!” I shouted.

“What is it?”

[Mass Teleport]

A multi-person teleportation spell.

This was it. We didn’t need to look for more teleportation scrolls.

“Let’s go, Lieutenant!”

“Yes, let’s hurry!”

As soon as we stepped outside, though, we couldn’t help but freeze.

“Huh?”

“Huh.”

I locked eyes with a group of soldiers, heavily weighed down with bags.

Well, if you thought about it, we were nothing more than two guys recklessly grabbing loot that technically belonged to the army. And it was obvious that such looting would be considered a serious crime.

If these people didn’t let us pass, what were we to do?

Dyrus, myself, and the soldiers were all silently watching each other.

Dyrus seemed to be preparing himself for the worst.

He had a face of true loyalty and appeared ready to go to any lengths to protect the princess, even if it meant overpowering our fellow soldiers in this very spot.

“Um, Lieutenant...?” I uttered.

A soldier among the group, perhaps recognizing Dyrus’s rank, hesitantly spoke up.

“How about we pretend that we didn’t see each other and none of this happened?”

‘... You guys were looting as well?’