漫画大王

Chapter 69

The rescue mission had been successfully accomplished.

The destroyed warp gate was surrounded by a forest, and there were no guards or security forces in sight.

After all, this warp gate was an abandoned one that was no longer being maintained. Choosing a metropolis as our destination for the escape would have been problematic, so we had made the escape to a warp gate that was currently out of service.

The warp gate in front of the Order of the Holy Knights was not a mega-gate, so it could not be used for long-distance travel. The size of each gate determined the travel distance that was allowed. Gates came in three sizes: standard gates, large gates, and mega-gates. Fortunately, the gate in front of the Order of the Holy Knights was a large gate.

Nevertheless, we had traveled an incredibly long distance.

After our successful escape, Eleris had destroyed the warp gate and then teleported me here.

"Everyone has survived, Your Highness."

"Good. You all did a great job."

Sarkegar and Loyar were both safe as well.

The battle itself had not lasted long. As soon as the dragon appeared, the Order of the Holy Knights were frozen stiff by the unbelievable situation they were facing, and during that time, the prisoners had sprinted through the warp gate as fast as they could.

If the battle had dragged on, the three of them would surely have been in danger.

The prisoners, unable to understand what was happening, wore expressions that were a mix of both relief and fear.

However, something felt wrong.

I was a demon myself, adorned with horns, but I couldn’t see any horns or tails on the succubi or incubi. They seemed no different from humans.

Well, that was that. Anyway...

[Event Complete - Rescue Demon Prisoners]

[Rescued Number of Prisoners: 107]

[You have received 5350 achievement points.]

I had used 2000 achievement points, and had now secured over 5000 points.

Sarkegar, Loyar and Eleris began untying the bewildered prisoners.

It seemed best to start with some introductions.

"I am Baalier Junior. Since the previous king has passed away, I suppose I should now simply be addressed as Baalier.”

When they heard my words, all the demon prisoners who had seemed doubtful began to kneel, one after another.

—Your Highness!

—Your Highness!

Many of them started to weep and bow down to me.

It was as if they had all been in despair, thinking that everything was over, and had suddenly found a ray of hope.

While all the rest of them knelt, there was one person who did not.

"Baalier...? You’re Baalier?"

The woman staring blankly at me seemed to be doubting her own eyes.

"H-Her Highness, the Princess?"

Sarkegar’s shocked reaction only added to my astonishment.

‘Princess? I thought I was the only Archdemon left in the world. Aren’t I?’

***

I soon learned why Sarkegar had called her a princess.

"She is the daughter of the Succubus Queen, Reyna, who was previously one of the Four Demon Lords."

"Ah... is that so?"

The Succubus Queen, and one of the Four Demon Lords.

I didn’t set up the Demon King properly in my novel, so I didn’t know much about him, let alone the Four Demon Lords. One of them was the Succubus Queen, and this person, the daughter of that queen, had recognized me.

Judging by the familiar tone she used with me, it seemed that being of the Four Demon Lords’ bloodline was akin to being royalty.

The succubus looked to be about my age in human terms and had pink hair.

‘Pink hair? Seriously?’

Seeing it in person was quite strange. It seemed to suit her, but the feeling of aversion that arose in me was no joke.

The succubus adjusted her ragged clothes as she approached me and stood before me. She seemed hesitant, and her expression betrayed her confusion.

Was she nervous about the situation?

“... Don’t you recognize me? I’m Airi. You don’t remember?”

The succubus who introduced herself as Airi seemed astounded that I couldn’t recognize her.

"Princess Airi, the Prince has lost almost all of his memories from his time in the Demon Realm."

"... Why?"

“How should I know?" I said.

The pink-haired succubus seemed stunned by my words.

The girl who called herself Airi looked slightly perplexed.

“Did you know me from before?” I said. “I’m not sure what memories I should have that you might be referring to, but I’m sorry, I can’t remember anything about myself.”

Upon hearing this, Airi’s expression turned peculiar, and so did the expressions on the faces of the many succubi behind her.

‘What’s going on? What did I do to these people? Was the fact that I lost my memory a good thing?’

Still looking confused, Airi’s eyes darted about before she finally nodded reluctantly.

"Regardless of what happened... Thank you for rescuing me. I never thought you would be alive... I’m glad you are.”

Airi seemed to believe that I had died a while ago. Indeed, the original Baalier seemed quite pathetic. He might have done nothing but run around crying ’Do you know who I am?’ before having his head chopped off.

“Alright, fine. I see what you’re saying. How about we go over there and speak, away from the others?"

I led Airi to one side of the forest. I could feel her trailing me hesitantly. I was not sure what our relationship was, but it seemed like we definitely weren’t on good terms. It felt as though she was being overly cautious around me.

"Just like Sarkegar said, I’ve lost all my memories from my time in the Demon Realm, and I don’t even want to remember them. If I did something terrible to you, I’ll apologize."

Apologizing for things that I couldn’t remember was almost becoming a habit at this point. But at those words, Airi’s eyes widened in surprise.

"No, it’s fine... You don’t have anything to apologize for. Rather, I should be the one to...”

Midway through her sentence, Airi gave a startled jump and cupped her hand over her mouth.

“... Hm?" I questioned.

"Ah, well, uh... um..."

‘What is it?’

Her reaction was completely different from what I’d expected. It seemed like she was incredibly shocked simply by the fact that I had saved her.

The way she kept looking at me did not seem to suggest fear. Instead, it seemed as though she thought I’d be the last person to save her.

"Wait a minute. Did you physically abuse me in the past or something?”

"Ah, uh, n-no, I can... I can explain..."

‘Yep, she definitely did beat me up.’

While I was usually the one who abused others in the past, it seemed like my relationship with Airi was quite the opposite.

"I’m... I’m sorry!"

Airi looked completely flustered, as if she couldn’t believe she had been rescued by someone she used to pick on.

***

Airi trembled continuously as she explained to me that she and I used to be something akin to childhood friends before the Great War.

To be precise, it wasn’t so much friendship as it was her just bullying me. Whenever I acted like a hooligan, wreaking havoc wherever I went, Airi would beat sense into me, a kind of abusive discipline. In fact, since Airi was treated like royalty despite being of a different race, she had the power to do so.

Hence, it seemed that I either ran away in terror at the sight of Airi, or only dared to provoke her when the Demon King, my strong backing, was around.

This meant that we had a mutual hatred for each other, but in reality, I was often on the receiving end of the beatings.

Just as I treated Loyar like a pet dog, I must have terribly tormented the young succubi as well. And every time Airi saw this, she got so angry that she would beat me up.

She had been allowed to do that because of her status as the daughter of the Succubus Queen, which distinguished her from normal succubi.

The Succubus Queen was the second of the Four Demon Lords.

Therefore, in the hierarchy of the Demon Realm, Airi was the daughter of the third most powerful figure. That was why she was able to dole out harsh punishment to the Demon King’s son when he got out of line.

Airi, too, had a very high status in the Demon Realm. In the new hierarchy, where I was the Demon King, she was third in rank behind me.

All of the Four Demon Lords had perished during the war, and Airi had been taken prisoner after their defeat.

Naturally, she assumed that the Demon King’s son, Baalier, whom she’d always had a troubled relationship with since childhood, was dead. So, being rescued by that very Baalier was something she found hard to believe. Now that I told her that I had lost my memories, it seemed like the situation made more sense to her.

"Let’s put the past behind us. I don’t even remember the past, so I can hardly seek revenge for it. And I’ve heard enough to know that I probably deserved those beatings anyway."

“Ah, um...”

Airi seemed unable to refute my words, and I began to wonder exactly how much of a mangnani I’d actually been.

I might not have been that terrible of a person, considering she was around to discipline me. Or so I hoped.

"Let’s cut to the chase. Do you know the detailed composition of the prisoners we rescued?"

"There are eighty-five succubi, fifteen incubi, two lycanthropes, three doppelgangers, and two nightwalkers."

The majority were succubi and incubi. I wasn’t sure what nightwalkers were, but all the others were likely humanoid demons.

"What about their strength? I’ve heard that the humans have done something to them."

At this, Airi clenched her eyes shut as if the question had triggered a raw and painful memory.

"Why? What’s wrong?"

"Ah... you said you’ve lost your memories, so that explains it.”

Airi gave me a look as though I should know what she was talking about, but then she remembered that I had lost my memories, and lifted her pink hair slightly.

Hidden beneath her long hair was a gruesome scar on the side of her head that I hadn’t noticed before. It seemed as if something had been torn out.

"The humans... they cut off all our horns and tails.”

So it wasn’t that they were naturally without horns... The humans had forcibly removed the horns and tails of the succubi and incubi to neutralize their powers.

Tears fell from Airi’s eyes as she recalled the humiliation she had suffered.

Airi explained that, for many demons, their horns were the source of their magical power. This meant that now, without her horns, Airi had lost all of her magic, and any potential for its growth.

All the succubi and incubi had lost all of their inherent abilities and characteristics. This included the power to absorb vitality and enter the dreams of others—all of it was gone.

"They don’t grow back... or do they?"

"They can, but it takes an incredibly long time... It’s virtually as good as gone. But there’s more; we were all subjected to a certain procedure."

"Procedure?"

"Human mages destroyed all of our internal mana conduits. Even if our horns grow back, we wouldn’t have the means to harness that magic... We’ve been rendered powerless."

It was all an effort to create safe ’toys’ for the wealthy humans and the nobility to play with. They not only destroyed the source of the demons’ mana, but had also obliterated their ability to control it. The mages had successfully disabled these prisoners completely.

Even though she was a high-ranking demon, and was now the Succubus Queen, Airi had lost all her power and potential for growth.

"I’m sorry, Baalier... What you did for us, saving us, it’s something I can never forget... Thank you. I’m so grateful that I want to help you in return... but all of us have lost our powers and are now useless.”

Airi began to cry, sitting down in despair. The prisoners were all demons who had once possessed formidable powers, and Airi, being the Succubus Queen, would have been particularly strong, or at least had the potential to be strong.

But they had all lost that potential. It seemed that Airi was drowning in guilt because she knew she couldn’t repay the debt she owed me.

“I didn’t save you to put you to use in the first place."

Airi looked up at me with tearful eyes. “What?"

"I didn’t rescue you because I had some purpose in mind."

That was the truth. While earning achievement points was a big part of it, it had merely been a secondary factor.

I, who had little interest in the reconstruction of the Demon Realm, had only agreed to the operation because Eleris, Sarkegar, and Loyar wanted to make the attempt.

Inciting a rebellion in the imperial capital with a hundred demon prisoners had never been my aim.

The loss of their powers was a sad affair for them, but their rescue was not something they needed to feel indebted to me for.

"You guys are free to do what you want. You can return to the Dark Land, or do whatever it is you need. My only goal was to free you all, so there’s no need to follow any orders from me now."

If they chose to return to the Dark Land, Eleris would send them back using Mass Teleport.

Airi, who had not expected such words from me, gazed at me for a long while, a stunned expression on her face.