"... Are you saying Vivian Blunt is dead?"

"Yes, she is."

His adjutant, Aina Sermyun, bowed her head.

Jason adjusted his monocle. She knew very well that it was a sign of his displeasure.

"Would you tell me precisely what happened?"

"Rumors that the Demon King of Carnal Desire is dead are spreading, primarily in Akan and Dormund."

"Mere rumors?"

"The Kingdom of Akan presented Vivian Blunt's horn as proof."

"Her horn..."

A Demon King's horn, no less. Neither the demonic energy contained within it nor that energy's nature could possibly be counterfeited. If that band of fanatics obsessed with researching magic and demons vouched for it, it was unlikely to be false.

"There were literally only signs that a raiding party or a hero's journey might be organized."

"Yes. Apparently, several raiding parties who found this suspicious advanced on the Tower of Carnal Desire."

"Don't tell me the tower has disappeared?"

"Yes. They say it vanished without a trace. As far as I know, that only happens..."

"When a Demon King dies and the tower is summoned back to the Demon Realm. Yes, Vivian Blunt really is dead."

Jason let out a hollow laugh.

In truth, Vivian Blunt's death had been inevitable. But her death now was an unforeseen development that had skipped the expected steps.

He could not believe it, having received no indication of any raiding party or hero's journey.

A variable like this was anything but welcome.

"Who was it?"

"That has yet to be established. Even Akan, which possesses Vivian Blunt's horn, does not know."

"Does it make sense to have the horn but not know who killed her?"

"I looked into that. They did not obtain it themselves; they purchased it through a trading company."

"Which trading company?"

"The Golden Moon Trading Company of the Kingdom of Iasin."

"Golden Moon..."

The corner of Jason's mouth twisted upward.

"Berge Deias."

"Yes, Berge Deias."

Ever since lending Berge money, Jason had kept track of where it went.

And he had discovered a particular trading company.

Golden Moon. A company that had been withering by the day had suddenly received a massive investment and begun to recover. Moreover, its heir had returned from participating in a hero's journey.

Wasn't it too much of a coincidence that this had happened so close to the date Jason had lent Berge the money?

"Could Berge Deias have killed Vivian Blunt, cut off her horn, and sold it?"

"No, I doubt it. However strong Berge may be, he has limits as long as dimensional interference affects him. Unless he spent a hundred years or so pouring every demonic energy point solely into removing that interference, he could not kill another Demon King inside their own tower."

A tower was a Demon King's home base. One Demon King would enjoy the protection of their tower, while the other, inside someone else's tower, would be cut off from the protection of their own.

Under most circumstances, the outcome was obvious.

"But we cannot say he was entirely uninvolved. If he obtained her horn, there must be something behind it."

'What on earth is it?'

Initially, Jason had thought Berge framed Vivian to divert attention.

But then he had simply killed her? Jason could not fathom what he wanted.

After pondering briefly, Jason shook his head.

Whatever Berge was after did not matter.

'First Drakson, and now Vivian.'

The problem was that he had crossed the line far too brazenly.

"I will investigate further."

"Yes, please do."

"Then what about the trading company?"

"Leave it alone."

"Are you sure that is wise?"

"Once the hero's journey is over, I will swallow it up at my leisure. Chewing it up and swallowing it is more profitable than destroying it."

"Yes. I will prepare accordingly."

Aina slowly withdrew.

"The time remaining before the hero's journey begins."

That is the final reprieve I grant you.

Without fail.

The cup of black tea in Jason's hand shattered.

"That is how it will be."

* * *

After receiving Vivian's oath of loyalty, Berge set about organizing the merged tower.

From five floors to ten. The tower's doubled floor count felt, quite simply, as though Vivian's tower had been attached to his.

Vivian's tower occupied floors one through five, and Berge's occupied floors six through ten.

He had Vivian's servants and his own introduce themselves.

"I am Kaede Jespine."

"Lavinia."

"I'm Elena Hilderan."

"... My lady? Is this really right?"

The princesses' introductions bewildered Vivian's servants.

There were princesses and elves, even dwarves, and one floor was packed with mana cannons.

For Vivian's servants, who were merely ordinary demons, it was a parade of incomprehensible sights.

"I am no longer a Demon King. I have become Berge Deias's servant, and so have all of you."

"... But..."

Vivian's adjutant, the succubus Jenia, hesitated. Vivian took her chin and met her eyes.

"This is not something I should say to those who trusted and followed me, but unfortunately, we have no choice."

That was the nature of a servant's bond. If their master came to serve someone else, they had no choice but to follow.

"Still, I hope you understand that this choice benefits you as well."

"... Understood."

"If you command it, my lady—Lady Vivian, I mean—we will obey!"

Her servants bowed their heads in unison.

Yet even with Vivian's assurances, things could not go entirely smoothly. The inhabitants of Berge's tower were primarily humans, elves, dwarves, and other beings native to Arain. They were bound to feel an instinctive aversion to the invading demons.

Time would have to resolve that problem.

"But if the tower now has ten floors, its weight..."

"Neither its exterior nor its weight changes. The space inside is warped."

Each floor was nearly twenty meters high to begin with, yet wasn't the tower only about fifty meters tall on the outside?

Five whole floors had been crammed into a height that should theoretically accommodate only two. That was possible thanks to the tower's power to warp space.

"Oh...!"

After casually putting Logger's worries to rest, Berge changed the tower's layout.

"I hadn't even filled all five floors, and now they've doubled in an instant."

First, he divided Vivian's servants into two groups. He gathered the demons together and gave them a floor, while sending every demonic creature and monster to Lavinia.

"Yay!"

It was hardly a secret that she squealed with delight at the nearly doubled number of monsters and demonic creatures.

The dwarves and stockpiles of materials went on the second floor, while construction of the legs began on the first. Lavinia and the monsters were assigned to the third floor, Vivian and the demons to the fourth, Elena and Charlotte to the fifth, and Kaede and the elves to the sixth.

As an added bonus, the dwarf princess, who had developed a taste for sparring after fighting Kaede, stayed on the sixth floor as well and requested a bout every day.

Floors seven through nine were now empty, but he could fill them gradually.

"After the stir you caused, my lord, no one doubts that Vivian Blunt is dead. They are frantically searching for the hero who killed her, and some are asking where the other remains are, not just the horn."

"The Golden Moon Trading Company must be having a hard time."

The Golden Moon Trading Company had been the first to appear with a Demon King's remains.

Naturally, everyone's attention was bound to fall on it.

Rather than suspecting the company itself of killing Vivian, countless people were trying to find out which hero had sold it the item.

Berge was not particularly pleased with the situation.

"They say the deal with the mage tower went smoothly, and they can now procure all the materials we need. However..."

"However?"

"They keep requesting other body parts, and word has spread that Golden Moon is purchasing all kinds of supplies. Since those purchases are chiefly materials for golems, there are rumors that the company is building golems itself."

"And?"

"For now, he is sweating over persuading the company's executives."

Aman's father had granted him full authority, making him a deputy head with real control over the company. But no matter how much authority he possessed, he could not run every aspect of a trading company unilaterally.

He inevitably had to proceed in agreement with its executives, but that was impossible where Berge was concerned.

He could hardly tell them he was a Demon King's lackey, gathering supplies for his master.

Thus, the approach he had chosen was a mysterious trading partner and tangible payment in the form of mana cannons.

It had been perfectly workable. Merchants would sell their very souls for profit, regardless of whom they were dealing with.

But now that public attention was focused on them and a Demon King's horn had surfaced without their knowledge, the executives could no longer simply let it pass.

"Every day, they demand a clear explanation of how he obtained the Demon King of Carnal Desire's horn and who this trading partner is, supplying mana cannons in exchange for golem materials."

"What if he put Hillen Cargill forward?"

"He is already using that to quiet them down."

"By saying Hillen Cargill killed her?"

"No."

After rescuing Ernyan, Hillen had remained in Hilderan. Far too many people had seen him there for a claim that he destroyed the Tower of Carnal Desire during that time to hold up.

"Then how?"

"Apparently, he used the fact that Hillen Cargill is an investor in the company."

The investor wanted confidentiality. The moment they heard Hillen Cargill was involved, the executives had no choice but to keep quiet, however dissatisfied they were.

"Then that settles it."

There would be plenty of talk, but human nature did not change. They might be noisy now, but they would soon quiet down.

"It does not. Various countries are making a fuss as well."

"... What a headache."

Of course, attention was inevitable when a Demon King's tower suddenly vanished and a piece of that Demon King's body appeared.

The problem was that this attention was anything but welcome, and if it went too far, the company might face sanctions.

"Above all, the problem is the Kingdom of Iasin."

However much other countries protested, they were still foreign countries. At least officially, they could not interfere excessively with another country's trading company.

But what about Iasin, where the company was based?

"Yes. Apparently, an official notice has arrived demanding that, if they purchased it through someone else, they disclose exactly how it was obtained."

It was called an official notice, but it was a threat.

"... I'll abduct Iasin's princess."

"What? Now that the experiment succeeded, are you simply throwing restraint to the wind?"

The experiment had tested whether the legs could actually merge with the tower.

The dwarves had cobbled together an artifact in a single day and installed it in the tower.

When Berge touched it, the same message that had appeared for the Mana Ghost popped up.

At that moment, everyone became certain that this plan would succeed.

"If a royal in the line of succession is abducted, they won't have time to worry about a mere trading company, will they?"

"There is the problem that all their anger will be directed at us."

"Once we move the tower, it will all become empty shouting anyway."

"We have only just begun building the legs."

"Even if they begin preparing a hero's journey now, it will take a few months. Logger assured me he can finish in time, provided he has enough materials."

It would certainly not be easy, but they had no fewer than fifty of the dwarven kingdom's finest craftsmen. With Akan's golem controller as well, it was not completely impossible.

"Besides, we need as many demonic energy points as possible. We don't know how many it will cost to merge the legs with the tower and set it in motion. The more anger, the better."

"That is true, but is there any need to make our deadline even tighter?"

The Empire was already preparing a hero's journey. If Iasin joined in, the expedition might depart even sooner.

"No, that won't happen. Don't worry."

"It won't?"

"No. I am certain."

The Empire would never cooperate with another country.

It might do so when searching for the tower itself. Sharing the bloodshed with other countries to reduce its own losses was entirely normal.

But once the tower was found, the Empire would insist on destroying it alone.

It had to claim all the glory and riches for itself.

That was how the Empire had been before his regression, and it had not changed afterward.

Unless something truly momentous happened.

"That would be a relief, but this matter is far too significant for a single person to divert their attention."

"Then it needn't be just one person."

His steps were light, as though he were merely going out for a stroll.

A few days later.

『The Kingdom of Iasin's First Princess, Natalia Iasin, and Its Second, Third, and Fourth Princesses Abducted!』

『Traces of Black Flames Left at the Scene—Is the Demon King of Hellfire Responsible?』

The unprecedented abduction of four princesses at once threw the Kingdom of Iasin into uproar.

* * *

While the continent reeled from Berge's actions, the Empire was calmly preparing a hero's journey.

Under the emperor's leadership, no less.

Martin Jespine closed the door with a rigid expression. Blood trickled from his badly bitten lip.

"Your Highness."

His adjutant bowed deeply.

"Did your discussion with His Majesty go poorly?"

"I'm not sure how to describe it."

From Martin Jespine's personal perspective, things had taken the worst possible turn. But viewed purely as an imperial prince, he had little to lose.

"His Majesty has changed course entirely. He has excluded the imperial family."

Originally, this undertaking had been effectively part of the Empire's struggle for the imperial succession.

Those who achieved greater feats would gain more fame and power.

But the emperor had suddenly changed his position.

"His Majesty is personally assembling the expedition and planning the hero's journey. To ensure the Demon King of Hellfire is finished for good."

He would not tolerate even the uncertainty introduced by disputes among the princes.

"... That is..."

It was an extraordinarily hard-line stance. It even conveyed a desperate determination to kill the Demon King of Hellfire at all costs.

There was nothing particularly strange about a nation's ruler becoming enraged over the abduction of his child.

What mattered was that he had not acted this way until now.

Hadn't the emperor been calling this an extension of the imperial succession contest until very recently?

In that moment, Martin's plan to take the field himself and somehow protect Kaede, at least, had fallen apart completely.

"There is something behind this. Something that changed His Majesty's mind."

"I will look into it. But honestly, I consider this fortunate."

"Fortunate?"

"The Demon King of Hellfire is far too dangerous."

By hiding his tower and intercepting attackers in the mountains, he had devoured countless heroes and others.

Unlike other Demon Kings, he also had no qualms about abducting royals in the line of succession.

"He is completely disrupting the relationship we have established with the Demon Kings. For the Empire's sake, someone like him should be eliminated quickly."

Everything Berge had done—none of it resolved from humanity's perspective—was heightening their alarm.

"That is true, but..."

Having learned that his sister had become the Demon King's lackey, Martin could not readily agree.

"Of course, it is regrettable that you have lost an opportunity to distinguish yourself. But the other members of the imperial family are in the same position, and you have already found the tower, Your Highness. I consider that fortunate."

"Yes, of course."

It would have been better if he had never found the tower, never learned that Kaede was the Dark Knight, and never handed over the token to the secret vault.

'Or should I have forced the issue and captured him when he came to the imperial capital?'

No, the Demon King must have had a fallback plan of his own to show himself so brazenly.

'He took the token again, too.'

Although it could no longer grant access to the secret vault, the token had been returned to Martin because it symbolized his right of succession. Only to be taken from him again.

Martin smiled bitterly.

"Since His Majesty has issued the orders himself, the hero's journey may move forward faster than expected. Keep a close watch on how that group is assembled."

"Yes."

For now, Martin decided to pass this information to the Demon King.

* * *

『I heard the Demon King of Carnal Desire has become your servant, my lord.』

『And you caused quite a stir in Iasin, didn't you? Four princesses.』

That was fast.

Not long after returning from abducting Iasin's princesses and unceremoniously handing them over to Kaede, Berge received a call from Ernyan.

Apparently, Kaede had already told her everything.

『You can make even a Demon King your servant?』

"A Demon King is still a demon, after all."

『A succubus queen must be very beautiful. The princesses, too.』

"They aren't beautiful."

『That answer came awfully quickly.』

"Because it's true."

『... What's gotten into you?』

"... Who knows?"

Why had he answered that way? He didn't know. Simply meeting her eyes had sent a chill through him. She was smiling, yet somehow it didn't feel like a smile.

Perhaps that was why the words had come out instinctively.

Common sense dictated that a succubus queen could hardly be anything but beautiful. The same went for the princesses.

『Congratulations. Your tower's forces have grown stronger.』

"They have."

『But did you know?』

"Know what?"

『I'm not an ordinary princess. I'm the Crown Princess of Hilderan.』

『I'm a rather accomplished spirit summoner who has a contract with a high-ranking spirit and will soon contract with a spirit king.』

『And Carnal Desire, whom you brought here, has lost her tower, so she can no longer be called a Demon King.』

"... Why are you suddenly telling me all this?"

『... Who knows?』

『Just saying.』