Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

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In this extraordinary situation where two Demon Lords exist at the same time, two places exist that the demons would call their hometown. One was the former capital, currently under the rule of the black-winged demon, and the other was the only town in the entire territory that had a name—Homirou, which was Luiza’s base of operations. This was a busy town where both humans and demons lived, and the building in the center of it was Luiza’s own residence. At this very moment, Seran and Minagi were over to see her.

“So you’re here…I’m glad to see you haven’t changed.”

They stood in a large room, acting as the visitor’s lounge. Luiza sat on her throne, looking down at the two with the type of confident attitude you would expect from the Demon Lord. However, her servant Yuriga, standing next to her, realized that her master was being antsy. Ever since Luiza had made Homirou her base of operations, Seran had come over several times, but it had been a full half a year since the last time.

“Granted, my forces have not participated in this war, but I’m impressed you could withstand the attacks for half a year now,” commented Poison-Needle with a tone that made it unclear if she was belittling or praising them.

With a name of her own, she was one of the strongest Demon Folk had to offer, and although she preferred acting on her own, it was really just her listlessness doing the speaking. She was now siding with Luiza because if Luiza won, Poison-Needle would be left to her own accord.

“They are doing pretty good, that’s true. My best-case outcome would be that they obliterate each other, but I guess I’m expecting too much,” said Flame-Eye with her red eyes, seeing Seran and Minagi as enemies as she did with the other demons.

She also, at least on paper, followed Luiza’s orders, but she wasn’t doing this out of good faith, she instead faced off against the black-winged one before and lost, so she’s now stuck with this side. But as this might have made it clear, the demons at Luiza’s side were in no way reliable or trustworthy. However, Seran and Minagi were used to this, so they just let these comments slide.

“You came here later than we agreed… Did you run into trouble on the way?”

Luiza had grown restless waiting for Seran’s arrival, but she tried to hide the reason why she asked that question.

“Yeah, some stuff happened when we departed…”

Seran and Minagi both flashed wry smiles as they thought back to what had transpired.

After Kyle returned with Sakira in tow, he had to explain the circumstances. Chaos ensued, as one would expect, but since Sakira seemed like a genuinely kind-hearted person, and with Seraia’s support, that whole incident was accepted relatively quickly.

“I anticipated for this to happen, but the very next day? That’s some luck,” Shildonia commented while shaking her head.

That said, with all of this coming out of nowhere, it took quite some time to discuss. Especially Minagi, who came with Seran, must have been feeling complicated about all of this. That said, her desire to do her work properly was more important. Seran personally would have wanted to watch the chaos unfold a bit longer, but with the war going on, he couldn’t exactly prioritize himself.

“Anyway, forget about that… How are things with the black-winged one?” Seran asked about the other Demon Lord.

One goal of coming here was to gather information about the black-winged demon, and naturally, Luiza would know a thing or two.

“Same as always…No public appearance from them whatsoever,” Luiza said and shook her head.

“So no change…just what are they thinking?”

“I cannot fathom what they are doing. I understand their desire to attack humanfolk, and that would be the natural desire of the demons, with me being the exception. However, if you’re going to attack, there must be a more efficient method for it,” Luiza sighed, unable to understand the motive behind these reckless assaults.

Currently, the black-winged demon was rebuilding the destroyed Demon Lord Castle, but even then, they never showed themselves. As they once beat Luiza, their strength as the Demon Lord had been admitted, and since many of the pro-war demons had been suppressed by Luiza, they quickly found a massive following. As a result, it didn’t take long to prepare for an all-out attack against humanfolk. However, since the war began, all they had been doing was losing, so their rule as a whole was in danger.

“I’m shocked they can just let this situation continue…”

Seran obviously had his doubts. Even if they had the backing of the Demon Lord, surely even the demons would eventually stop sacrificing themselves like that.

“The one who just barely manages to keep the masses together is that demon Targ.”

“Him again…”

Hearing the name of the demon staying close to the black-winged one, Seran flashed a tense grin. He was reminded of Targ’s face and gently caressed the remaining scar on his left arm. His outward appearance made him seem like a regular small-statured man with nothing major to write home about, but his prowess was on such a different level that he could easily fight Seran in a duel. He is also the individual who shows himself in public whereas the Demon Lord remains hidden.

“Thanks to that, he’s been staying away from the front lines, but I’d like a chance to strike him down for good,” Seran grasped the hilt of his sword, grinning.

“He is the black-winged one’s left arm, or maybe even half of his body. If you strike him down, the rest will crumble.”

“We’ve got our plans regarding that. That’s also the main reason we came here. But for that, we’ll need your strength.”

“Hm, what do you have in mind?”

“Well…” Seran reluctantly began explaining the shenanigans that Kyle had cooked up.

Once done, silence filled the room.

“What an absurd strategy…” Luiza voiced her shock.

“He’s worse than a Demon Lord…” Yuriga badmouthed Kyle despite him not being present.

“I’m shocked he could even think of that… Humans never fail to impress me.”

Flame-Eye herself didn’t seem too fond of the idea, as she even felt something akin to terror. She did try something similar herself, but her evilness feels like child’s play at this time.

“What is wrong with humans?” Poison-Needle seemed genuinely impressed for once, but also eerily terrified.

“J-Just to let you know, I didn’t think of it, okay? I just conveyed what Kyle was thinking,” Seran tried to defend himself, but it didn’t seem all too effective.

“That said, we would need someone as bait for that to work out. And is there anybody foolish enough for that?”

“There’s enough people like that around. They only care about their own position, realizing it too late. Some might never even realize the results they created,” Minagi reassured them.

“Ahh, I see now,” Luiza nodded, seemingly having caught on to something.

“As for the demons…Well, there’s Byakumu, so wouldn’t he be enough?”

“Oh, him…”

Hearing the name Byakumu, Luiza showed a visibly disgusted expression. As her expression made clear, she knew how troublesome of an opponent he was.

“What’s he like?” Seran asked, seeing that reaction as weird.

“He had already received his name when my father was the Demon Lord, so you can just tell how prideful he is. But, he even has the skills to back it up. He didn’t show any respect for me during my whole reign, and yet he’s now got free reign…” Luiza cursed, only to close her mouth as she looked at Seran.

“He didn’t even know his place, asking Luiza-sama to marry him.”

The one who explained Luiza’s reaction was Yuriga.

“O-Of course, I immediately declined. A man like him is not worthy of me,” Luiza glared at Yuriga, but she just shrugged. “Still, as a target, he might not be so bad… If you just stimulate his pride, he’ll probably jump on it. All right, I’ll lend you Yuriga, so discuss the details.”

“…I understand.”

Yuriga didn’t seem all too convinced about this idea, but as this was an order from Luiza, so she couldn’t decline.

“I see…either way, we will need your demons’ assistance or we’re crapped, so thanks.”

“It’s not something you would need to thank us for. Also…how long is this plot going to take?”

“If we can pull it off quick, probably around a month until results start showing. Maybe two months. We’re going to try and end it all within half a year,” Minagi answered after thinking about it for a moment.

“So by then it will happen… An all-out attack by humanfolk.”

“Yeah…”

“And when that comes, we will have to take a chance and go on the offensive ourselves,” she said, using the tone of what would be expected from a Demon Lord.

In terms of raw forces, the black-winged one had four times the strength as Luiza, and even if the black-winged one continued to lose, it still wasn’t anything that Luiza should get involved in.

“I know I’ve been in your care many times now, but I cannot fully cooperate with humanfolk,” Luiza declared clearly, which had Seran making a complicated expression.

Even if Luiza wanted humanfolk and demons to get along, in this situation, she could not let her subordinates fight together with them.

“Well, that’s to be expected. And if anything, humanfolk might see it as a trap and attack all of you indiscriminately.”

“That said…if your all-out attack lined up coincidentally with our assault on the black-winged one, it might be possible.”

“Yeah, that’s plenty.”

Even if they couldn’t officially work together, in the instance that they just happened to attack together at the same time, it wouldn’t cause as much of an issue.

“Plus, we’re slowly running out of time, ourselves,” said Luiza as she gazed outside the window, over toward the small shrine dedicated to the Black Dragon Juvars, with his jewel inside, where the other dragons slept.

Luiza’s own army was only about a fifth of what the black-winged one had available, and they had no issue attacking humanfolk even without those soldiers. However, they also couldn’t just forget about them, so Luiza’s army must have been a real eyesore to them. Even so, they didn’t try to snuff out the small army here because of the dragons. Because Kyle had a shrine built to honor Juvars, using the jewel he had given to him upon death, it became an almost religious location for the dragons, with many going on a pilgrimage to visit the grave. In other words, if the black-winged one were to attack Homirou, he would inquire about the wrath of the dragons. However, the number of visitors has lessened as of late. And once they stop showing up altogether, it would most likely be the end of this town.

“We have to end this before the pilgrims stop coming. And now it’s time to go for the kill,” said Luiza with a determined expression, and her servants followed suit.

“Still, color me surprised that you would use the dragons like that.”

The one who thought of this grave idea was none other than Kyle.

“Well, they’re still in our debt, after all.”

Kyle saved Ghrud when he was controlled by the Mera cult, and he helped free Juvars from his imprisonment.

“That said, aren’t you already borrowing quite a bit from them? The Dragon King might soon come in to inspect things himself.”

“Well, even if that were to happen, we could hardly refuse…but I’ll just have Kyle clean up after his own mess.”

In that sense, he could only push the trouble on Kyle instead, or so was Seran’s philosophy.

“Still, you’re right…I should learn from him a bit myself,” Luiza said and thought about something.

“What is on your mind, Luiza-sama?”

“Think about it. The whole incident with Juvars caused me the greatest harm. If I were to ask Zeurus for compensation, he could hardly blame me for it,” she said as if she thought of something. “I don’t intend on asking for much, of course. But, I might as well learn from you and ask for a bit of a stage play.”

Luiza seemed confident in her own idea as she grinned to herself, but it was clear that she was plotting something evil.

“Don’t overdo it, yeah?”

“Oh please, we’re talking about those secluded dragons. Might as well use them for something,” Luiza grinned as she looked at Seran, thinking to herself.

It seems I have been poisoned by them.

“But anyway, with our discussion over, what do you plan on doing now?” Luiza attempted to ask nonchalantly, but the others knew just how tense she actually was.

Still, Yuriga and the other demons decided not to dig too deep into that.

“Well…we’re probably going to stay here for a few more days.”

Of course, Seran realized this immediately, but he also didn’t point it out.

“I-I see. Well, we have just finished constructing a new facility, so if you want, I can show you around…” Luiza happily talked about her plans.

In the end, humanfolk and demons were a lot more similar than you’d think. And while Seran was thinking that, he decided to play along with Luiza.