The Executed Sage Reincarnates as a Lich and Begins a War of Aggression

A few days later, Luciana came to my room as I was reading a report.

She peeked at a few of the documents and reports.

“I’ve investigated John Doe.”

“You work fast. Have you already found something?”

“I gave priority to investigating it since it seemed to be important. I could tell that much when I looked at Demon Lord-sama’s expression when you requested it.”

Luciana said this with a confident expression.

Upon hearing that, I placed a hand on my cheek.

It felt hard.

It had no skin, no muscle, and no blood in it.

It was just black bone discolored by miasma.

“…My face is just that of a skull though.”

“Still, it was enough to convey something. Here you go.”

Luciana laid the papers on the desk.

I picked them up and read on.

All those papers were documents about John Doe.

His appearance was depicted in the first piece of paper.

He had short, maroon-colored hair and wore silver-rimmed glasses.

According to the information in the documents, he seemed to be in his early thirties.

He looked younger than his actual age.

He had a common type of face, with no distinct features.

However, it didn’t mean that he was ugly or something.

He just looked so ordinary that you could find his face anywhere.

He had a lean physique and gave off a scholarly and intelligent impression.

It was hard to imagine that this man was responsible for the development of several weapons.

“He is a magician affiliated to the Magic Kingdom and involved in weapons development. There’s no mistake in his career record. Apparently, he is quite well known in the military."

As Luciana peeked at the document on my hand, she pointed out several parts within the document and explained.

I had already expected for him to be well known.

He had been good enough to be dispatched to the Magic Workshop in the Imperial Capital after all.

There wouldn’t be a person appointed to such a task without having any prior achievements.

“A year ago, he rose to success quite suddenly. He has visited the Imperial Capital several times to provide them with technology and to listen to their results.”

“I see.”

I paid particular attention to the part regarding his career.

What had been written there was just as Luciana had said.

It had been investigated in even more detail.

I was impressed with how she had managed to investigate so thoroughly in the short time since my request.

…A year ago, huh.

I suddenly fell into deep thought.

John Doe had begun his success around the time I had become the Demon Lord.

The timings overlapped just right.

Was it just a coincidence?

According to the document, the trigger for his success had been his proposal to improve the magic gun.

It seemed that his plan had been submitted to the Magic Workshop in the Imperial Capital and had been successfully adopted.

Using that as a stepping stone, John Doe came up with more ideas for weapons development one after the other, all of which seemed to have contributed to great progress for advancement.

More than a year ago, he had had no noticeable achievements. Rather, he was treated as a useless person.

John Doe had only recently, abruptly, become active.

Even after reading the document all over again, I couldn’t find the key factor that caused it.

It was as if he had suddenly turned into an excellent engineer.

The first thing that came to mind for me was the fact that he could be one of persons backed up by the World’s will.

This also applied to the Hero and the Saint I killed.

They had suddenly gained great power.

Perhaps John Doe was also like that.

It was plausible, considering the timing of when his success had begun. 

However, it was still too early to conclude if that was really the case.

Perhaps he’d just naturally gained inspiration from somewhere.

It might be just a strange coincidence, where his successes just happened to match my reign.

Unlike the Hero and the Saint, it wasn’t like he had awakened to an overwhelming power.

His imagination was just boosted, and he now used such creativity to facilitate weapons development.

I couldn’t arbitrarily declare that as an interference of the World’s will.

“What are you going to do? I think Demon Lord-sama could easily transfer and assassinate him though.”

“Keep an eye on him for a while. Excessive technological advancement isn’t desirable, but humans also need hope.”

I answered Luciana’s question without hesitation.

It was highly likely that John Doe would become a nuisance in the future.

There would be many new weapons created by his hands.

We learned that the battlefield had slowly transformed during the battle in the Imperial City.

Most of the new weapons in the Demon Lord’s Territory were based on the weapons we had stolen from there.

We had also benefited from John Doe’s capabilities.

He wasn’t a man who fought in the front lines.

However, his influence was comparable to that of a Hero’s.

Regardless of whether the World’s will was involved or not, that was an absolute fact.

Luciana put a finger on her lips and looked at me with nostalgic eyes.

“Humanity’s hope, huh… Does that come from your experience?”

“I won’t deny that.”

As I responded with that, she looked surprised.

“Oh, so you won’t be modest about it?”

“It’s a fact, after all. Didn’t the former Demon Lord’s Army also think so?”

I remembered my old days.

At that time, people were searching for hope with a shape — in other words, a Hero.

They were existences who were strong enough to defeat the Demon Lord.

Because of that person’s actions, people managed to live through despair.

“Now you that you mention it, you’re right. You and that Hero-chan were spiritual pillars for the humans. From the perspective of the Demon Lord’s Army though, both of you were annoying insects.”

Luciana grinned bitterly.

There was some irony in her words.

From the perspective of the Demon Lord’s Army, we were their nemesis at the time.

We had managed to block their invasion attempts several times. By the end of it, we had managed to subdue their leader, the Demon Lord.

Obviously, we had also fought a deadly battle against Luciana.

She had suffered many times because of us.

Yet this time, dozens of years later she was my subordinate.

We never really knew what could happen in life.

“Regarding John Doe as a human, he didn’t have any personal bravery to grace the world with, but he used his wisdom and technology to do so instead. He brought a different kind of hope to people.”

“So the times have changed, huh… I wonder if I can keep up. I feel like I might get left behind.”

Luciana muttered.

I understood her feelings.

I had a decade's worth of blank time.

Although it had been a while since I had been revived, the existence of next generation of weapons, like guns and magic artillery. made me think similarly to her.

However, the flow of time couldn’t be stopped.

While it was possible for me to destroy civilization through repeated invasions, it wouldn’t be the future I truly desired.

I didn’t wish to see the world devastated and filled with only despair.

While it was a contradicting thought coming from a Demon Lord, these were my honest feelings.

John Doe’s capabilities would lead to the enrichment of human life.

Although they were currently only used for weapons development, eventually it would have a wide range of purposes.

I secretly wished for such a thing to happen.

Perhaps my wish was terribly twisted.

While I gave them the premonition of their destruction, my heart wished for their prosperity.

Even as I hated the humans and brought despair upon them, I wished for world peace.

It felt as if I was desperately supporting the balance of a broken scale.

“I…  I… t’s terrible!”

As I was thinking about the world and myself, the door of the room suddenly opened.

The one who’d entered while screaming was Grom.

He seemed agitated.

I had seen similar sights many times.

Each time he appeared like this, it meant something had gone wrong.

Even if I had a bad feeling about it, I calmly asked him.

“What happened?”

“The…  the Holy Scepter Kingdom… the Holy Scepter Kingdom has engaged in battle against the Magic Kingdom!” 

Grom reported stretching out his eight arms.