TERNLF Vol. 3 Chapter 4 Part 2

“Here it is.”

Realus rhythmically knocked on the door. Tap, tap, tap. Ta-ta-tap, tap, tap. Tap-ta-tap.

That was probably the signal to open the door.

Creeeeak.

With a heavy sound, the door slowly opened.

Then, when it had opened just barely enough that a person could not pass through, a woman’s voice came from the gap.

“Realus. How did it go?”

“I brought guests.”

“Guests? Who?”

“Powerful people from outside who may be able to save us.”

A conversation like that continued between the two of them for a while, and after some time, the door began opening again.

“…I’m sorry. I never imagined Realus would bring people of other races here.”

The one who appeared from beyond the door was a girl smaller than Realus, someone who looked around fifteen years old in human terms.

“No, it’s only natural to be cautious.”

As I answered, Realus uttered something shocking beside me.

“Mother. I’ll explain the details inside.”

“Huh? This person is Realus’s…?”

“My mother.”

No way.

“Pleased to meet you. I am Realus’s mother, Ramilie.”

From the way she placed both hands together in front of her body and bowed her head, as well as from her manner of speech, she certainly felt motherly.

…Come to think of it, Theo, the elf I fought at the royal capital’s guild, had looked like he could be called a boy too.

I did not know how old he was, but it was certain he was not as young as he looked.

If so, it would not have been strange for the girl before me to be older than she appeared either.

Apparently, I still did not understand the ecology of elves very well.

“I’m Toa.”

“I am Rish.”

“I’m Lentret. What you people call a stray elf.”

After we introduced ourselves to one another, we set out toward the depths of the hideout, this time led by Ramilie.

The inside of the hideout was underground, yet it was quite bright thanks to the magical lights.

Numerous doors lined both sides of the passage.

When Ramilie opened one of those doors, what lay beyond it was not a room, but another passage.

When I asked Realus about it, she explained that beyond the doors, some led to rooms, some to storehouses, and some to passages, so one could not tell just by looking.

Apparently, it had been designed so that anyone unfamiliar with the place would get lost if enemies of Willendi ever infiltrated the hideout.

“Yes, I’d definitely get lost without a guide.”

“Some of the doors have traps set beyond them. Do not open them carelessly.”

Realus stopped my hand just as I had nearly reached out toward one of the doors along the way out of simple curiosity.

Apparently, that door led to one of those traps.

“Understood. I won’t try to open anything on my own anymore.”

I said that while withdrawing the hand I had stretched toward the door, then gave a wry smile.

“Then let’s go.”

Curiosity killed the cat, as they said… With that thought in mind, I continued on from there while looking only at Ramilie, who walked ahead of us.

—

After passing through several doors and turning down branching paths several times along the way, we arrived in a room spacious enough to hold about ten people.

An oval table sat in the center, with chairs arranged around it.

On the wall was something like a blackboard, about half of which was filled with elven writing.

“Take a seat.”

Following Realus’s words, the three of us sat side by side on the chairs on the right side of the table.

Seeing that, the two elves sat down on the opposite side of the table.

“Now then, let us discuss what the elves are currently trying to do.”

As if all preparations had been completed, Realus began to speak.

“First, I will be direct. Right now, the elven race is…”

She paused there for a breath, then uttered something outrageous.

“…trying to awaken the second Demon King.”

“What do you mean?”

Those words were more than enough to shock us.

The second Demon King?

When one spoke of the Demon King, that should refer to the emperor of the Volga Empire, in other words, Empipi and Faura.

But what in the world did this second Demon King mean?

“It means exactly what it sounds like. We… no, the members of Eresia, who call themselves apostles of the goddess, followed the goddess’s oracle and found the second Demon King, who is said to possess power surpassing even the Demon King of the empire.”

“Eresia?”

“Yes. That is what the fanatics of the goddess, beginning with the elven king, call themselves.”

Apparently, in ancient elven, it meant “God’s Chosen People,” which meant they were claiming to be those chosen by the goddess.

Incidentally, Willendi meant “the free ones,” apparently indicating that they had been released from the goddess’s bondage.

No, more importantly…

“Did you just say they found something that surpasses the Demon King?”

Could it be that another machine from my previous world had been transferred to this world besides Empipi?

What exactly was going on?

“According to the goddess’s oracle, we were told that Empipi, the Demon King of the Volga Empire, was not a demon or anything of the sort, but a ‘magic tool.’”

“…”

“A magic tool, huh.”

“Hmm.”

Certainly, to the people of this world, who knew nothing of machines created through advanced science, Empipi would seem like nothing but a magic tool.

But how did the goddess know that?

While bewildered by Realus’s story, I waited for her to continue.

“It happened some time ago. A new oracle descended from the goddess.”

Even with the elves’ full strength, they had been unable to take the Border Fortress, and the war situation had fallen into a stalemate.

Originally, because of their long lifespans, the elves had a low birthrate, and among the races living on this continent, their total population had already been small. Yet repeated defeats had resulted in their numbers declining even further.

Everyone had sensed that continuing the war any longer was impossible, and yet, led by the fanatics who believed in the goddess, with the king at their head, the elves had apparently recalled all their forces in order to challenge us to a final decisive battle.

Most likely, that was why the elves had recently vanished from other countries.

It was in the midst of that.

A new oracle descended from the goddess.

“We were told by the goddess of the existence of a second Demon King who stood above those demons, the strongest demon who built the Volga Empire, and who possessed power surpassing that Demon King.”

In the oracle, the goddess had revealed the Demon King’s true identity as an “autonomous magic tool,” and had even hinted at the existence of someone controlling the Demon King.

“The second Demon King was buried somewhere in the Demon Territory. It has already been discovered by the members of Eresia, and we have received information that it will soon be transported into this Illusion Forest.”

“If something like that attacked the fortress together with the elves’ full military strength…”

“Even we wouldn’t be able to defend against it.”

When I glanced at Lentret, she shook her head.

MPPRD, the Demon King’s true identity, had been created to operate in every kind of environment.

Its outer shell, which could function even in lava, might be able to withstand even my full-power magic.

…Given the fact that even demons stronger than Luchimada had been defeated by the Demon King and forced to submit, it might be better to assume that my attacks would not work.

If something with power equal to, or even greater than, that Demon King truly existed, how were we supposed to fight it?

“This is where the true matter begins.”

As I was thinking about how we could defeat the second Demon King, Ramilie’s voice reached my ears.

“Realus. Please tell everyone the rest of the goddess’s oracle.”

“I know. In truth, this next part is the matter I want all of you to help us with.”

After saying that, Realus took a breath and opened her mouth once more.

“There were two parts to the oracle concerning the second Demon King. One was the location where the magic tool known as the second Demon King existed. The other concerned the person who could awaken the second Demon King.”

“Could it be that this so-called second Demon King can’t be controlled by just anyone?”

“No, apparently it can be controlled. However, it seems that a special person is needed to activate that magic tool. We want you to protect that person in order to prevent the second Demon King from awakening.”

I see. If the second Demon King was something from my original world that had been transferred to this world, just like Empipi, then I could more or less understand what Realus meant.

The second Demon King probably had a security lock on it.

If my memory served me correctly, the mainstream security locks of that era used biometric authentication based on iris recognition.

Iris recognition was a system that used the iris in a human eye. Since the probability of two people having the same iris was only about 1 in 10 to the power of 78, it was said to be far stronger security than fingerprint authentication.

Surely, to activate the second Demon King, someone with the same iris as the one registered in it would be necessary.

And the person who had overcome those odds of 1 in 10 to the power of 78 existed in this world.

However, deciding that there was no need to tell them that myself, I deliberately asked Realus a question.

“Who exactly is this person who can awaken it?”

“Apparently, the goddess did not state their name.”

“Huh?”

“But I heard that the oracle did reveal where that person was and what they were doing. I do not know the contents myself, however.”

And with Realus’s next words, my face went pale in an instant.

“Securing the one capable of awakening the second Demon King, the trump card that will bring down the fortress, is a mission that absolutely cannot be allowed to fail. The one chosen for that mission was the finest among Eresia’s elite. A subordinate most trusted by the king, a man named Rastel.”

“Rastel… Don’t tell me his target was…”

Faura.

If so, his actions at that time made sense.

Rastel’s objective had not been to drag the Demon King out for the fortress assault, but to search for “the one who activated the Demon King.”

Noticing my reaction, Realus tilted her head.

“You know him?”

“Yes. He was the demon who came for an audience with the Demon King… but he should have left without doing anything.”

“That is strange. I have heard nothing about Rastel returning.”

Realus immediately denied my words.

“To begin with, I cannot imagine that Rastel would return without fulfilling the mission given to him by the goddess.”

“…”

Could that man have only pretended to leave, while still hiding somewhere in the Demon Capital?

If so, perhaps my departure from the Demon Capital had been a mistake.

“I need to tell the Demon Capital about this immediately!”

To warn Faura that danger was closing in on her, I stood up with enough force to nearly kick my chair over.

But apparently, I was already too late.

“R-Realus, this is terrible!”

At the same moment I stood up, the door to the room burst open with a violent sound, and an elven man rushed in.

“What happened, Greigle?”

It seemed the name of the man who had rushed in with sweat on his brow was Greigle.

Judging from Realus’s reaction, he was likely one of Willendi’s members too.

“L-Listen calmly.”

You’re the one who needs to calm down.

With an expression so panicked that it made me want to say that, Greigle spoke something outrageous.

“Rastel brought Demon King Empipi back from the Demon Capital!”

At that completely unexpected news, not only we, but even Realus and the others were left speechless.

◆　◇　◆　◇　◆

On the northern side of the Illusion Forest where the elves lived, several thousand elves had formed one large ring.

At the center of the ring sat an object like a small mountain, and nearly all the elves’ gazes were fixed upon it.

That object was the second Demon King, excavated by divine oracle.

“Well done, Rastel.”

A short distance away from that object, a man with a muscular build and a beard, rare for an elf, said that to the man kneeling on one knee before him with his head bowed: Rastel.

The bearded man’s name was Landros.

He was the king who ruled Landriere, the elven nation.

“All is as the goddess commands.”

After answering that, Rastel raised his lowered head.

Then, realizing that the four elves standing to either side as if guarding the king were not looking at him, he felt slightly displeased.

Four elves stood lined up on either side of the king.

They were the elders who effectively governed the elven nation.

Of course, the king was ultimately the one who decided national policy, but throughout the elves’ long history, it was said that there had been almost no examples of the elders’ proposals being rejected.

Their interest, however, was not currently on Rastel, who knelt before the king, but on the three figures lying on the ground behind him.

If Toa had been present, he might have shouted their names.

Because those three were Nikka, Grassa, and Cheki, who should never have been in a place like this.

“So, which one is the person in question?”

A mature elf standing to the king’s left asked, indicating with his chin the three who lay collapsed and unmoving.

“None of them.”

“What did you say?”

At Rastel’s words, the female elf on the right flared up this time.

“You bastard. Did you deceive us, and deceive the goddess?”

“You will not get away with this.”

Not only the female elf, but the other elders as well raised their voices and began closing in on Rastel.

“Do not panic!”

Landros’s sharp rebuke stopped those elders.

“Surely even you understand that this Rastel would never betray the goddess.”

“Th-that is…”

“True enough.”

After confirming that the elders had calmed down, Landros bent down to meet Rastel’s eyes.

“Did you not tell me earlier that you had brought the ‘Awakener’?”

“Yes. I have told no lie.”

After answering that, Rastel looked back at the three lying on the ground.

“Those three are merely bait to lure the Demon King.”

“Bait?”

“Yes. And it seems that the Demon King has now taken the bait and arrived.”

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

A low tremor echoed through the forest.

Crack, crack, crack!

Next came the sound of the forest trees breaking, and fragments of wood rained down upon the elves.

“Uwaaah!”

“What is…”

“H-Hey! What is that?”

“Run!!”

“Kyaaah!”

One section of the elves’ beautiful ring collapsed.

At the same time, something enormous burst out of the forest into the place where those elves had been.

“Here, huh!”

A three-legged monstrosity suddenly leapt out from the forest.

Swinging its two massive arms and mowing down trees as it emerged, that being was…

“Welcome, Demon King.”

The Demon King Empipi himself, who had single-handedly forced the demons to kneel and built the Volga Empire.

“You said your name was Rastel. I came exactly as you summoned me.”

The Demon King’s voice, filled with rage, shook the eardrums of the fleeing elves.

In that place that had become a scene of utter chaos in an instant, Rastel nevertheless looked up at the Demon King with a mocking smile pasted across his lips.

Behind him, Landros and the four elders also stared straight at the Demon King without even attempting to flee.

Rastel turned toward Landros and bowed his head respectfully.

“Lord Landros. This is the wooden puppet falsely claiming to be the strongest of the demons.”

“Oh? It certainly looks exactly like the magic tool we found.”

Landros slowly stepped forward, passed beside Rastel, and walked out before the Demon King.

“So you are the Demon King.”

“…Who are you?”

“I am Landros. King of this nation.”

The first encounter between the Demon King and the elven king.

It was by no means a peaceful one.

“Elven king. I have one question. Were that man’s actions carried out by your command?”

“They were.”

“I trust you understand what meaning that answer carries.”

The Demon King’s voice dropped a level lower.

It carried unmistakable anger.

“Now, let us stop there.”

Amid that volatile atmosphere, Rastel stepped out before the Demon King in a voice that sounded utterly unconcerned by it all.

Then, lightly raising one hand, he snapped his fingers.

Snap.

“If you continue being rude to my king any further, I cannot say what will happen to these girls.”

And then, what happened?

In a place where there should have been nothing until now, three girls known to the Demon King appeared, lying unconscious on the ground.

“Nikka! Grassa! Cheki! You bastard, what did you do to the three of them?”

“They had been lying right in front of you this entire time. For someone supposedly worthy of being called the Demon King to be deceived by illusion magic cast by the likes of me and fail to see them until now is truly laughable.”

It seemed the Demon King had not been able to see the three lying collapsed on the ground until now.

“Illusions…? Could it be that the sight of those three is also an illusion you created?”

“No, these three are real. Well then, perhaps it is about time they woke up too.”

Rastel approached the three and kicked Cheki, who had been lying closest to him, in the side.

“Gyaaah!”

“Ow!”

“Kh!”

Then, after kicking Nikka and Grassa as well, the three woke with their faces twisted in pain.

However, because of the magic Rastel had cast on them, they could not stand and remained sprawled on the ground.

“You bastard!!”

“Now, now. If you move on your own, my magic will slice them apart in an instant.”

The Demon King, who had raised an enraged cry and started reaching out to save the three, stopped moving.

“How cowardly…”

“I would prefer you not forget that whether these girls live or die is entirely up to us.”

Rastel laughed as he pointed his palm, charged with powerful mana, at the three girls who had only just awakened and could not grasp the situation.

If the Demon King moved now, someone would lose their life to the magic fired from Rastel’s hand.

“Now then, with all the actors assembled, shall we have Lord Demon King listen to our request… No, this is no request. It is an order.”

“An order?”

“Yes, an order. If you will not obey my words…”

Rastel continued while aiming his palm at Nikka’s head.

“Shall I slice them apart one by one until you obey?”

The grin Rastel had kept plastered across his face instantly turned cruel.

From his demeanor, it was obvious to anyone watching that Rastel was not lying.

“…”

“Your answer?”

“…I will obey… So release the three of them.”

A bitter voice escaped the Demon King’s mouth.

“That will be after you have done what we want.”

“Then hurry up and say what this desire of yours is!”

“Very well. First, come out of that puppet.”

With the index finger of the hand opposite the one aimed at Nikka, Rastel slowly pointed at the Demon King.

Then, wearing the same mocking smile as before…

“The true Demon King controlling the Demon King. Miss Faura.”

He spoke the secret of the Demon King, something known only to an extremely limited number of people.

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“There is no use hiding it. We already know from the goddess that the Empipi you are controlling is merely a magic tool.”

After answering that much, Rastel shifted his gaze from the Demon King to the three at his feet.

“And I heard from these three that the demon controlling that magic tool is named ‘Faura.’”

“That’s a lie!”

“We didn’t say anything about Faura!”

“There’s no way we would sell out our friend!”

“That is right. There is no way those three would tell the likes of you about me. There is a limit to how far you can take your lies.”

“Your little friendship game is all very touching, but I am not lying.”

Rastel shook his head theatrically and explained the truth of the matter.

“I only said I ‘heard it from the three of them.’ I never said that the three of them told me your true identity.”

“What do you mean?”

“All I did was cast illusion magic on these three so that they could see an illusion of you.”

On the day Rastel visited Demon King’s Castle, as he waited for the audience, he had cast illusion magic on the audience chamber.

Without knowing that, Faura and Toa had hurried into the audience chamber, failed to notice that the Rastel they were dealing with was a fake, and boarded the Demon King.

And secretly, Rastel had hidden himself and watched them do it.

“That is why I knew your appearance. However, I did not know your name, so I showed these three who were in the castle your form and drew the name out of them.”

With those words, the three remembered that there had been a time in the castle when they had seen Faura and called out to her, only for Faura not to stop.

At the time, they had thought she simply had not heard them, but in truth, it had been an illusion of Faura created by Rastel.