Demon King

World War – 5

We’ve always misjudged and overlooked many things. And because of that, we harbored resentment for the disaster that arrives for us. I judged and laughed at the behaviors of others as if I were some high scholar. I couldn’t help it, after all that happened, but that was no more than an excuse. I was now paying the price of utterly neglecting what I should’ve thought of.

“It’s something I expected, to some extent.” Rain said with a kind smile.

“It’s like this in the end.” I quietly looked down at Alec’s body. All I could tell was that he was stabbed a few dozen times and died in pain. Just a mere twenty minutes ago, it was an ill-fitting end for this man who tried to regain the right to live for all those who became dwarves. I didn’t have the energy to speak, but I was worried about what Rain said.

“You expected it?”

“Yes, Fate. Who do you think they are? On the outside, they may be dwarves, but they are basically the same as those humans out on Earth.” I believed they wouldn’t be like humans. They were trapped in a dwarf’s body and suffered for nearly two years, after all. Only to come to Earth to get caught in a war and be discriminated against. I thought they would take a different path.

But they hadn’t. Nothing had changed. Nothing could change.

“Fate, what would you like to do?” The question had no energy behind it. What was the cause? Perhaps it was the influx of new dwarves. There had only been a few hundred originally in the underground, but now thousands had joined. Maybe they ignored Alec and wouldn’t listen to him. Or maybe they killed him out of fear he would control them all.

“The culprit?”

“No one will tell you.” I looked back at the dwarves who looked about as if they didn’t care. Some of them turned away or gave me a tense look. Some even laughed. Until now, I was confident they would form a strong alliance with me and become a part of the ideal humanity that would make up a new world. But now I only felt the same discomfort I did when I faced the humans outside.

“You are no detective, no judge.” One of the dwarves stepped forward and responded sharply to me. Looking at the dwarves behind him, it looked like he was the leader of a fair number of them.

“Of course not.”

“Then I hope you will fulfill your promise now. You said you would create an environment where we could live without persecution from the humans.”

“Yes, I did.”

“We’ve already organized everything on our end, so I hope you hurry. It is unfortunate that Alec ended up like this, but we will elect his successor in a fair way. Isn’t that right?” I stared at him. He was one of the dwarves I saved directly. His aggressive nature made me want to flinch away and step back, but all of the dwarves were watching me. I stepped forward, setting my face in stone. I couldn’t stand it, laughter welling inside of my heart.

“That is definitely the case.”

“Then, we will do everything we can as your allies so long as you help us.”

“But I have a slightly different idea.” I used Causal Control to fix all of them in place. They were strong, but not one of them had reached the higher system. Thus, they couldn’t resist me.

“This…what the hell…!”

“I need to know who killed Alec.”

“That’s none of your concern!”

“No, this is my concern.” I stared at them all blankly.

“What I wanted was not a representative to lead the dwarves, but Alec, who led you. But now he is dead and gone, and I need to find the one who interfered with my plans.”

“Nonsense…!”

“You have five seconds.” I spread spheres of blackmines all over the place, each filled with the energy of Predation. A Flame of Destruction circled far around us, preventing them from leaving. Even at a distance, we could all feel the heat from it. I embraced it calmly.

“Tell me who killed Alec, and everyone who helped. If you lie, you will die. If no one answers within five seconds, everyone will die. In that case, there will be no alliance.”

“Coward!” The dwarf leading the charge, who asked me to act as their ally, burned away without a trace. The square instantly became silent.

“Four.”

“I will tell you! These ones threatened us to be quiet…!”

“Three.”

“That one! And the one who just died! The three groups united…!”

“Fuck you!”

“Shut up! Not one of us, but that group.”

From the moment I started counting, the dwarves started to shout at me as they tried to plead. I had no issue understanding what they wanted to say in their desperation, however.

“Zero.” The countdown was over, but the dwarves kept making noise. I already heard everything I needed to. Thousands of confessions, most of them contradictory. But by comparing them, I was bound to find what was false and determine which group of dwarves stood out the most. Then, punish them.

“Oh!”

“Nonsense!” Of the dwarves that filled the square, half of them evaporated in an instant. The dwarves were horrified and tried to run away, but they made no progress. In the end, there was no choice but to face their death quietly.

“You’re cruel!”

“Are you going to equate the cost of Alec’s life with all the dwarves?”

“Yes.” There were little more than 30,000 dwarves left. Those who survived didn’t tell a lie. If they did, they did so because of a lack of clues.

“Why…like this…”

“Why did you kill Alec? Why did you stand by? Why did you stay quiet?”

“…”

“If I knew it would’ve ended like this, I would never have rescued you.” They thought I wouldn’t care about his death, or that I would value our alliance over him. But our alliance wasn’t about gaining power, so having 50,000 dwarves or 100,000 didn’t matter. The value of Alec, who shared conversations with me and dreamed of returning home, was worth thousands of them.

“The alliance is ending at this moment.” The Flames of Destruction that were holding back the dwarves disappeared as if they had never been there. One tried to charge me but was absorbed immediately.

“What I wanted was a dwarf. I have no reason to form an alliance with those who are just like the humans on Earth. So choose.” I spoke steadily.

“There is no reason to leave you here. If you want to go to Earth, I will let you. But if you wish to stay here, you will obey me.”

“That was his purpose from the beginning, this devil!”

“Half right, half wrong.” I kicked the dwarf who called me a devil.

“I’m a demon, but I don’t intend to place the weak under my control.”

“Kuhh…”

“Five seconds.” A huge gate appeared in the air, leading back to Earth.

“Anyone who doesn’t leave will be considered to be obedient to me. If you stick around and don’t obey…”

“Ahhhhhh!” A group of dwarves ran through the gate as soon as I stopped speaking. More than 10,000 of them were competing to cross the gate. The dwarves were fighting amongst themselves with expressions of horror as they plunged into the gate, but I just kept looking even after the five seconds passed. That was to get rid of those going to leave anyway. I didn’t want to cause any more meaningless death.

“…”

“The remaining will obey me, correct?” Only

“…Yes.”

“Yes, that’s right!” I expected maybe a few thousand at most, but a fairly large number, close to 20,000, remained. There were many kinds of dwarves, just like there were humans proper. Those who weren’t active or had no interest in power struggles, or even those who wanted to stand on the side of justice.

“To be honest, you don’t have much power. But…here, you will have a bigger chance of survival than those who left, and of reaching that human life you so crave.”

“…Okay.”

“For now, rest and wait. There will be more work to do in the future.” I looked back at my sister, who averted her eyes, and Mireina, who was grieving without averting her gaze.

“Go. It looks like the dungeons are starting to appear.”

“I’ll wait here for you.” Rain saw us off the same way as always. A sudden thought came to mind, a question I wished to ask him.

‘Is my new appearance similar to how it was before?’ I erased the thought from my mind and activated the record.