39. A Sword was Nothing

Before leaving Dandelion, Lara made several plans after her conversation with God.

The first plan was to awaken Demian so that he could use the power of Abraxas. She knew that God and Demian could become one in the process. Perhaps the man she loved would become part of God and disappear.

But Lara believed in Demian. She trusted his heart more than anyone else in the world. Even in her previous life, Demian was someone who lived looking only at Lara. When she returned and met him again, his heart remained unchanged. And through this love of Lara, Demian’s heart could not be weaker than the will of God, as he had lost his saintess and gone crazy.

Demian would win. He would trudge back as usual, lean his head on Lara’s shoulder, and let out a sigh as if that was the only moment he wanted. She believed in him. That was one of Lara’s most powerful weapons.

The second plan was to make everyone in the world aware of the existence of demon worshippers and the Hell Corps. From the Tarragon Empire, to Hautean, the Eastern Countries, and to all the other small kingdoms.

They would have no choice but to handle the situation once they knew about it. Unless hell was burned entirely, the demon worshippers and the Hell Corps would continue to appear and appear again like mold. Thus, they would play on the minds of the weakest and grow by feeding on their anxiety and fear.

It took a lot of sacrifices to defeat evil, but it did not take misfortune to raise evil. This tragic history could not be continued forever. Since Lara had decided to become the demon lord herself, she would use this as a turning point in the great demon war.

Man would prevail, they would not rely on saintess nor on God but would prevail only by human power.

Lara’s third plan was to open the gates of hell, she would then take all the demon worshippers that were gathered in Gorgon and lead them to hell.

The demon worshippers would be in the place where their objects of worship lived, they would be satisfied and would think they were in paradise. It did not matter even if they became dogs of demons in hell or were treated like slaves and exploited. Lara thought it was better. Perhaps that was the life they wanted.

Some of the demons who crawled through the gates of hell had already slaughtered demon worshippers several times. If Lara had not carried the giant of fire with her, they might have bare their teeth to her. The demons were afraid of the hellfire so they did not want to come close to Lara.

“What are you going to do after you put them all in hell?”

Valac, who was crouching close by, raised his head curiously and asked.

Lara looked down at Valac’s face and noticed that he looked tired. Though it did not happen to Vassago and Paimon, Valac could not relieve the accumulated fatigue. He had gotten thinner, there were dark circles in his under eyes, and his hair had gotten frizzy. The image of a shining prince straight out of a fairy tale was no more in Prince Sidhar’s body._.

Lara asked him back.

“What should I do to send them all to hell?”

“Pardon? Well, push them all with force or…”

“That many people?”.

“Or someone should step up and lead them. ‘Your paradise is there. Let’s abandon the weak and insignificant human life and become a true demon-man.’ That much nonsense is probably enough…”

“Right?”

“But will it work? They’re human beings too, they have instincts, right? They’re practically dead if they go to hell… Will they want to go?”

“I was the one that asked you.”

“I thought you were just asking for the sake of the question despite already knowing everything. You’re smart after all, Master.”

“I have never been to hell. How am I supposed to know?”

“Oh, right. You never have.”

Valac stared at Lara with his eyes wide open. Then, he muttered to himself so clearly that she could hear everything.

“Why does the role of the demon lord look so natural to her? People might think she’s been practicing in hell for about 100 years.”

“I can hear you.”

“For some reason, I think if I ask you where hell’s best demonic beast steak restaurant is, you look like you’ll keep recommending me one after another.”

“What?”

Lara was dumbfounded and made a smirk. Vassago nodded slightly beside her and agreed with Valac.

“Master!”

Paimon returned then. His whole body was soaked in blood. He just came back from catching demon worshippers at random and throwing them into hell. He looked a little excited after getting to step onto the land of his hometown while he was at it.

“What do you think?”

“The gate over there is narrower than over here. Not all of the gates have opened yet, so there weren’t many Hell Corps coming over. On the other side of the gate, the demons were fighting amongst themselves to come over first so I threw some of the humans away and they were very happy to catch and eat them.

Is that why blood is spattered on him?

Lara nodded her head in silence. Even when she looked at the blood-soaked Paimon, she did not avoid him and say that it was terrible, nor did she even frown. Lara looked like she did not feel guilty even after a few people were killed.

Vassago and Paimon accepted that side of Lara naturally. Because she was the demon lord of their choice.

But Valac, who had stayed with Lara from Hautean and followed her, felt strange about that. Although she was a human who had clear preferences, she was still kind and emotional. But the Lara in his eyes was no more, she was now no less than the demon lord of hell.

God must be an idiot. How could he choose this perfect demon lord as a saintess?

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

It was deep into the night. Lara walked in front of the log cabin and waited for Konny.

The meal that should have come in the evening did not arrive. She did not know whether something happened to Konny or whether something had happened to someone else. Lara’s diligent maid tended to act like a natural disaster if her lady did not take care of her meal on time, so the fact that she did not come until now meant that there was a problem.

“Should I go?”

The people of Memoria City knew Lara as the demon lord so she had to hide her identity to enter the city. As soon as Lara was thinking about wearing a disguise, Valac appeared through the grass.

“Master, I brought the maid.”

“Milady!”

Guided by Valac, Konny ran to Lara’s side. Her round face was filled with joy. Her face was smiling but her eyes were on the verge of crying. Konny ran at full speed to Lara’s embrace.

“Sob…”

“Why are you crying?”

“You’re a bad lady. What kind of princess runs away from her maid? You knew I was going to be some kind of leech for you. You’re evil!”

“I’m a princess?”

“You’re a princess to me, the most disobedient princess in the world at that. Didn’t you read any fairy tales when you were young? The troublemaker princess was always in trouble and the good maid was always crying and looking for her.”

Even when she was sniffing in a stuffy voice, Konny still said everything she had to say. Lara wiped Konny’s tears with her clothes. But the more she wiped it, the more it flowed so she quickly gave up and said.

“But princesses are always happy.”

“Of course. You’ll be happy too.”

“Is there a fairy tale where the princess-turned-demon-lord became happy?”

ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ Lara asked with a smile. Konny, who was crying with her face in Lara’s embrace, secretly raised her head. Then, as if she had just realized that she was in the middle of the demon’s camp, she opened her round eyes wider and asked.

“Do you already know, milady?”

“About what?”

“His Imperial Majesty has passed away.”

Konny’s voice resounded in vain in the dark forest. Valac, who took food out of the tray that Konny brought and carefully prepared the table, and even Vassago and Paimon, who sat far away and looked around, all looked up and looked at Lara and Konny.

Lara opened her mouth with a pale face.

“His Imperial Majesty has…”

“Passed away. In the middle of the battlefield… All the Imperial knights, the wolves, and the knights of Princess Sonnet ran out to recover his body. I heard that, had the Barbarians not shown up at that time, they all might be dead.”

The Emperor was dead. Lara felt as if a hot wind was leaking from her suffocated chest. She recalled the Emperor, who was exceptionally favorable to her. An old man who was proud as if he had everything in the world because his son, whom he got at his old age, had grown up to be the Crown Prince. The man, who was once the King and a tyrant, and a pillar of the Tarragon Empire.

The Emperor had a heart disease, Lara had already known he would not live long. Still, she thought he would pass away peacefully while being treated in bed like he did in her previous life.

“So… How did it go?”

Lara’s voice trembled. Konny stroked Lara’s arm to comfort her.

“The Barbarians appeared and the situation was reversed. The damage was not small but I heard they handled it well. The anger of the Imperial army was so great that the demon troops were decapitated and burned.”

Konny did not know much about the Emperor. She only treated him as a high-ranking person who had bothered her lady. Still, she said she had a hard time crying when she saw people who were sad.

“Madam Isadora took Valentine. I think she’s planning on creating a long-distance travel magic circle that can travel to Dandelion. Because His Imperial Majesty’s body must be laid in state in the Imperial Palace. It’s winter now, at least, but we still don’t have much time…”

“Konny.”

Lara took Konny’s hand.

“Tell mother.”

“Yes? About what?”

“I’ll contact Crown Prince Acerus.”

“How?”

“And I’ll come to her at dawn.”

Konny jerked her head up. Then, she shook Lara’s arms strongly and shouted.

“No! People in Memoria City now call you the public enemy of the continent. No way!’

“I will go secretly. I won’t get caught. So please tell mother not to close the window.”

Konny cried again but she nodded confidently.