As Ernyan headed back to Hilderan after finishing her work and dropping a bombshell on the Demon King, the dwarves stood on the brink of the greatest undertaking of their lives.

A gigantic vessel. The dwarves' flying masterpiece.

"To think I have to destroy this with my own hands."

"Hmm. I surrendered because the sky tower sounded so appealing, but I used to pilot this thing..."

"The kingdom's treasure..."

"Destruction is the mother of creation! We have to break this apart to build the sky tower! Which title would you rather have: repairer of the levitation ship, or builder of the sky tower?"

"Builder of the sky tower!"

"Let's smash it! This relic of a bygone age!"

"The longer we drag this out, the more it'll hurt. Let's finish as quickly as possible!"

"Who do you think we are? We can handle this in a day!"

"Yeaah!"

Hundreds of dwarves set to work at once.

The levitation ship was too large to fit through the tower's main entrance, and they couldn't dismantle it in the deep sea. Naturally, they had no choice but to take it apart on the island being prepared for the pirates.

Which meant the pirates had no choice but to witness their madness.

"Wow."

"From now on, I'm never touching anything belonging to a dwarf."

"I've seen plenty of lunatics, but this is the first time I've seen an entire race of them."

"Well, that's how they became a Demon King's servants and made over a thousand mana cannons."

"Then what does that make us? We're his servants too."

"We're crazy in love. Vivian, our milky-white beauty!"

"Still, it's a bit of a waste. Would've been great if we could've had it."

Piracy aboard a flying ship. The very thought was exhilarating.

"Forget it. Push for that and you might get your tongue cut out."

"Right. Lady Vivian told us not to covet it either. We should be grateful the dwarves are upgrading our ships and building us a harbor."

"True enough."

"I heard the battle's over. I wish the elves would come back."

"You've got Lady Vivian, and you're looking at other women? Are you insane?"

"Shut up."

"Anyway, is it true they're taking that apart and attaching it to the tower?"

"Does that mean the tower will fly?"

"..."

"..."

The pirates looked at one another.

"... I couldn't thank Lady Vivian enough even a hundred times over. For accepting me as a servant."

"Same here."

"Vivian, our milky-white beauty."

A tower flying through the sky while firing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mana cannons.

The pirates sighed in relief.

A week had passed since the expedition's defeat at Berge's hands and their capture.

Fortunately, the main force wasn't advancing any faster than expected, giving Berge plenty of time to persuade most of the heroes—and to dismantle and destroy the levitation ship.

The Demon King and a princess rose from the sea.

He asked, "How far?"

The princess gave a soft whistle. A mermaid poked its head out.

"Twelve kilometers?"

"Just right."

Berge opened his storage dimension and dumped out what remained of the levitation ship. Not a single levitation stone or other rare material remained among the wreckage, but the sheer volume was immense, as befitted the components of such a gigantic vessel.

Then, as though they had been waiting, the heroes shot up from the depths, drawn by the Demon King's power.

"Phaa...!"

"We're outside!"

"The fleet is about twelve kilometers away. It won't take them long to reach you. Until then, each of you grab some wreckage and hold on."

"Yes, my lord!" the heroes shouted in unison.

"Um, but what exactly are we supposed to do? You said we'd receive equipment made from dragon bone based on our achievements..."

"Live as you normally would. Hunt demonic creatures and slay Demon Kings. Except me, of course."

In time...

"You'll gain fame and become Stars like Hillen Cargill, or earn the title of great hero. Gain power that way. The extent of that power will be the measure of your achievements."

"Yes, my lord!"

"We'll remember!"

Berge checked their story one final time.

"What happened to you again?"

"We reached the top of the tower, but failed when Balaf Dislord lost to you, my lord!"

"How, with no fewer than six Stars?"

"The Demon King of Lies was there too! And the legion Lies brought was far too numerous and powerful! The Demon King of Lies himself was particularly overwhelming!"

"And?"

"Balaf Dislord died, and we had no choice but to retreat! The levitation ship was destroyed in the process, and all the dwarves went down with it!"

"Very good."

Along with explaining how the heroes had survived despite losing the levitation ship and failing to kill the Demon King, the story laid a trap for the Demon King of Lies.

Whether it worked or not, it would strike Jason like a fairly sharp dagger.

"The special orbs you swallowed will prevent anyone from discovering that you're my servants. So go about your business without worry! Go establish yourselves and prepare to welcome me!"

"Yes, my lord!"

The heroes nodded vigorously.

Having swallowed the Armani Orbs and been tempted by rewards for their achievements, the heroes had become the Demon King's faithful dogs.

The coalition had failed to become a unified force. That was only natural.

More than a dozen nations had come together under the common cause of slaying the Demon King of Hellfire, but quite a few had been enemies until recently.

They had agreed that each nation would retain its own commander and that they would act by mutual agreement.

Yet despite the divided chain of command, no one had anticipated failure.

Six Stars. A thousand heroes.

Balaf Dislord was among those Stars. He had failed several times, but on one occasion he hadn't even found the tower, and on another he had returned after hunting an actual dragon.

His latest failure had merely been the result of a wholly unforeseen trap, not grounds to doubt his abilities.

And so they had never doubted their victory.

Not until they realized that the mage flying unsteadily toward them, covered in wounds, was Roselle Charnt.

"Hah, hah...!"

Her blood-drenched body was covered in wounds. Her face was pale, and her body was cold as ice.

"Lady Roselle?"

The naval commander in charge of the Kingdom of Akan's fleet hurried to receive her and summoned the healing mages.

"W-we lost."

"What? What do you mean, you lost?"

"... Over there."

She weakly extended a hand.

"There are survivors over there. You have to save..."

Her body went limp.

"Lady Roselle!"

"Where are the healing mages? Hurry!"

The ship burst into activity. News of the discovery of the wounded Roselle soon reached every fleet.

The coalition sped in the direction she had indicated and found fragments of the sunken levitation ship, along with heroes clinging to them to stay alive.

"... Good heavens."

They came face-to-face with despair.

"Rescue the survivors at once!"

"Pull the heroes out!"

Nationality made no difference in the rescue. They lifted the heroes out as carefully as possible, recovering a little over seven hundred.

"Balaf. Where is Lord Balaf?"

The rescue continued for over an hour, and the exhausted heroes began coming around one by one.

The imperial captain questioned Aina Diaphrin, who had just awakened.

"..."

"Lady Aina!"

Aina bowed her head mournfully.

"Lord Balaf..."

A tear fell.

"Lord Balaf..."

Unable to finish, Aina broke into sobs. Watching her tears pour down, the captain and nobles felt a foreboding chill brush the backs of their necks.

"Surely not..."

The captain asked again. Aina's condition looked grave, but his panic was greater still.

"Surely that can't be true?"

"..."

"Lady Aina!"

"... I'm sorry."

"Please answer me. What happened to Lord Balaf?"

"... Lord Balaf..."

Swallowing another sob with a hiccup, Aina forced herself to speak.

"During his final battle with the Demon King at the top of the tower, he..."

"H-he...?"

"... He fell to the Demon King."

THUD

The shock rippled outward silently, yet faster than anything else.

To the captain, the nobles, the knights, the mages, the soldiers—to everyone in the coalition.

"... Lord Balaf..."

"... Is dead?"

The utterly unexpected blow left no one daring to speak. A chilling silence mingled with the stillness of the sea.

"W-why didn't you wait for us? Why in the world!"

The captain's anguished cry never carried beyond the sea.

The stunned coalition did not move for some time. No, it could not.

And amid that despair, the heroes thought:

'She could be a stage actress.'

'I think I'm going to cry too.'

'Cry. Cry your heart out.'

'I think I'm going to laugh.'

'Hold it in by sheer grit. Laugh now and the Demon King will kill you.'

'Wow. Who wouldn't fall for an act like that?'

Aina Diaphrin was a damn good actress.

Shortly after the decisive battle between Berge and the expedition ended, Dorche returned to his tower in a daze.

"My lord?"

He couldn't even answer his adjutant's call.

He slowly ascended and slumped onto his throne.

"Did something happen?"

"It did. Something very big indeed."

Astounded? No, that didn't begin to describe it.

That thing—what he had witnessed...

"He wasn't some mere Demon King."

"Pardon?"

"That Berge Deias fellow. You said it's only been two years since he descended?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"I can't believe it."

"Two years ago, he graduated from the Demon King Military Academy, incurred Grand Duke Alkain's displeasure, and descended to Arain. It's all on record."

"I'm saying it's impossible. How could he, in two years..."

It wasn't simply a question of fighting strength.

"Now I understand why that bastard Jason couldn't deal with him himself and asked Grand Duke Alkain for help."

Originally, Dorche had intended to watch events unfold, then devour the exhausted heroes if they won, or the exhausted Berge if he won.

But he couldn't.

Under the current interference, he couldn't overcome the shocking power Berge had displayed.

He had no confidence he could win.

Against an amateur who had descended only two years ago—and to his very first dimension, at that.

'An amateur? That thing?'

If so, every amateur was as good as dead.

He was strong. Incredibly strong. And on top of that...

"... He was commanding them."

"Pardon?"

"He. Was commanding. Demon Kings."

"What do you...!"

"Reina Sordein."

A noble demon supported by countless frost demons.

"And Vivian Blunt."

Grand Duke Alkain's agent, dispatched before Dorche, with experience conquering an entire dimension.

"Those two were helping him."

"Other Demon Kings were helping him? That violates the Guide..."

"No. It went beyond simply helping."

A dragon's eyes—the power of a seasoned dragon—could see more than most.

"They were Berge Deias's servants."

"... Good heavens."

The adjutant was horrified. It wasn't impossible for a Demon King to become a servant. From the perspective of the Demon Realm, a Demon King was ultimately just another demon.

But never before had a Demon King who descended to a lower dimension become the servant of another Demon King who had descended there.

"Th-that...!"

Could this be considered a violation of the Guide?

Quite apart from the Guide, Demon Kings were strictly forbidden to attack one another.

But accepting another Demon King as a servant? The adjutant didn't know. Confusion engulfed them.

"If that were all, we'd be fortunate."

Dorche gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"... What else is there?"

"He was like a dragon of the lower dimensions. His subordinates made that clear."

"You mean he accepted members of the lower-dimensional races as servants, rather than demonic creatures?"

"Quite a variety. Humans, elves, dwarves."

"So he's completely abandoned his pride as a Demon King?"

"Can we really call it abandoning his pride?"

"Pardon?"

The adjutant was stunned. Wasn't Dorche the very model of an arrogant demonic dragon, overflowing with pride as a demon, a demonic dragon, and a Demon King?

Why the sudden change?

"If they'd been ordinary people, I'd have mocked Berge just as you did. I'd have shouted that he'd hit rock bottom and raged at him for disgracing demonic dragons."

But among them...

"What if one had a contract with a spirit king?"

"... A spirit king? But why would someone like that follow Berge Deias, a Demon King?"

Like the Demon Realm, the Spirit Realm was a higher dimension. The four kings who ruled it were so powerful that, if they set their minds to it, even most grand dukes wouldn't dare challenge them.

Moreover, spirit realms were overwhelmingly fewer in number than lower dimensions, and naturally, summoners capable of summoning a spirit king were rare as well.

Anyone who had nevertheless contracted with a spirit king could rank among the strongest in this dimension—no, would be too powerful to dismiss even in the Demon Realm. Why would such a person not defend Arain?

"How would I possibly know that?"

"I overstepped."

The adjutant bowed, then asked another question.

"Then what do you plan to do?"

"For now, I'm scrapping the plan to wait for an opening and kill him."

It was impossible.

And above all, Dorche was suspicious of Jason.

"Jason, that damned bastard. He never told me this crucial information."

"It certainly is strange. He's survived in Arain for so long and should know that fellow well. There's no way he could have been unaware of this."

"Unless he was deliberately trying to lure me into a trap."

"But he has no reason to do that."

"No, that doesn't matter."

Whether Jason had known or not, what mattered was that Berge had two Demon Kings as servants.

If he'd known, he'd been trying to trap Dorche.

Even if he hadn't, that was no excuse.

"I'll use this as leverage to get more demonic energy points out of him."

To face Berge Deias, he would at least need to regain his full original power.

"Will he give them to you?"

"He'll have no choice. If I report this to Grand Duke Alkain, Jason will be the one facing the grand duke's wrath for failing to explain things properly."

Berge was a problem to consider afterward.

For now, no amount of thought would yield an answer.

True to his nature as a demonic dragon, Dorche was a Demon King quick to act.

He immediately contacted Jason, and that day, seventy-one drinking glasses in Jason Cockmundo's office were smashed.