There was no reason to refuse. He had no intention of refusing in the first place.
No matter how large a country is, there are limits to how it can fight against the demon realm alone. The king of Shanguk also knew this fact, which is why he could be so confident.
The Emperor quietly touched the back of his hand.
He knew that the king of the Shanguk prepared in advance with the post-alliance battle in mind and was now tongue-in-cheek.
'It's a little disappointing.'
Even if Shan had a vassal state, they didn't know how to use it, so if they had just talked about the synergy effects of what Rweche and the Empire had, they could have lowered the Shanguk's say in future alliances.
The Emperor, who had a glimpse of his opponent's intelligence, lowered his eyes, thinking that he would be quite tired from now on, but paused for a moment when he noticed something. The king of the Shanguk added, as if he seemed to be hesitant.
"The enemy we must prioritize the most is the demon realm."
"... Okay."
It wasn't because of that, but it was definitely a question he was swallowing because he couldn't ask it first.
According to the demon realm's claims, this war was being fought because of the Empire, but was that okay? Even if that was not the case, it was a country that had been waging wars of conquest before, so was there really no emotion around it?
It could be a weakness if he uttered it hastily, so he tried to swallow it, but it seems that the king of the Shanguk already knew.
'This is okay.'
It may be a little disadvantageous in future alliances, but the Empire was not so easy as to be intimidated by that.
That wasn't why he stopped in the first place. A faint, silent sneer spread across the Emperor's face.
'The curse must have been removed through a shaman.'
Perhaps because the war continued, the hallucinations became more severe.
But not now. Pretending not to have seen anything, he raised his head to face the two kings and nodded slowly.
"I listened carefully to your opinions."
"If you do that..."
"Isn't it a war between the demon world and the human world? I'm happy to accept this."
***
When the news that Deon Hardt had turned to the side of the demon world spread throughout the human world, who suffered the most?
Deon Hardt?
How could harm be inflicted on someone who is not in the human world?
Traitors to humanity and the endless anger of people. Their anger, which was too great to just suppress, was poured out on the Murderous Knights who were quietly waiting according to the Emperor's orders.
Pow!
"Fuck yes! Let's start by killing you before we kill the demons!"
"Are we easy?! Huh? Do we seem easy?"
"I'm going to kill you guys who only live for today anyway!"
"His Majesty's orders... I don't know! We can just say that we will do the work of the two knights!"
"Guys, take your medicine!"
Puck! Pow! It was ambiguous to say that they quietly waited, but it was worth acknowledging that they had not committed murder even after receiving a lot of discrimination and insults.
Moreover, it was enough to get angry at those who hurled excessive insults at Deon Hardt and say, 'Don't insult our captain!', but as if they had not survived the battlefield for a long time for no reason, they held back their thoughts.
That's why the Emperor tolerated the actions of the Murderous Knights to a certain extent.
"That's the limit now."
One of the knights sitting huddled together in a deserted corner opened his mouth.
"We had some accidents, right?"
"I heard that the Emperor is slowly showing signs of putting us on the front lines. If we'r not careful, we could end up facing off against our captain."
"How did you get that information?"
"The Deacon told you?"
"What about the Deacon..."
Recently, the voice of the old Deacon, laughing in vain as he said that there were crazy people coming into the Marquis' residence with torches, passed through the minds of the knights. They didn't see him face to face, but they heard him dragging something heavy, right?It was like the sound of a human corpse being dragged...
"If it was the Deacon, you should have told us."
"Yes, I approve if it's the Deacon."
"Honestly, I don't think anything will surprise me about the Deacon..."
The members of the Murderous Knights returned to their initial topic.
"Now that we know where the captain is... let's bounce."
"Where?"
"Where can we go?"
The demon realm.
... The member who was about to say so quickly closed his mouth as a chill ran down his spine.
The others seemed to think the same thing and quickly covered each other's mouths to hold their breath. As they were close to birds, their perception was accurate.
"I always wondered how far it would go, but I thought I would die of fire before I could see the end. You said you would proudly run away from my territory."
Tak. Footsteps filled with pressure were heard.
His short green hair swayed as he walked. The brown eyes, which were far from friendly, were filled with scorn and turned towards the Murderous Knights.
Stigma Primeero, the second hero of the Empire, who was temporarily in charge of the members of the Order of Murderous Knights by order of the Emperor, muttered in a cold tone.
"If it weren't for your knights, I would have killed hundreds more times."
Not dozens, but hundreds.
Each member of the Murderous Knights was horrified and lowered their bodies at the blatant desire for murder.
Milan, the most fearless of them all, barely raised his head and spoke playfully to lighten the mood.
"Marquis Primero, what brings you here? Are you going to give us training again?"
"Didn't you say earlier that you were giving up on education? You are the first people since I was a child to draw my wrath to such an extent. I almost died from a vase that day."
"Aren't we the ones who almost died? You pulled out your sword that day..."
Boom!
"Who in the world can instill culture in you?"
"..."
"I tried to teach you for my junior, but the fundamentals are flawed, so what can I do? I decided to take it easy and think of you not as knights, but as bastards raised by my junior."
"He just called us sons of bitches..."
"Did I say such vulgar words?"
Patter. Stone dust fell from the wall Stigma hit.
As they slowly rolled their eyes and looked, they saw a dent in the wall...
"No!"
Even crazy dogs have instincts for survival. The knights shook their heads like crazy.
After the Emperor found it difficult to control the Murderous Knights who were causing trouble every day, they were forced to experience the fear of Stigma after he handed them over to Stigma.
Even though Deon Hardt was labeled a traitor to humanity, he accepted them as before, calling them 'his knights.' Rather, he entrusted the training to the knight commander and vice-captain under his command, thinking that it would be a good opportunity to teach culture to his junior's knights who were like wild dogs. Until then, the atmosphere was good.
They both declared giving up on the first day, until Stigma, who felt doubtful, stepped forward and said he would rather educate them himself. He willingly stood in front of the Murderous Knights for education, and not long after...
'Which ear is the one that doesn't listen to people?'
He pulled out his sword.
'It's only a nuisance and doesn't seem necessary, so I can cut it off, right?'
'Hey!'
'Stay still. If you're not careful, your neck might fall off instead of your ears.'
That was definitely sincere. He loved the look in their eyes.
Anyway, after the commotion that day, Stigma also decided on giving up. It was such a big uproar that it was surprising that there were no casualties, so even the shameless Murderous Knights trembled for a while at the mere sight of the shadow of Stigma.
"..."
Stigma sighed as he looked at the trembling knights.
"You can't run away from under me. Even though you are an order of knights that even His Majesty has a hard time controlling, I have been given orders to take charge of you. If you run away, what will happen to my honor for losing you?"
Cleter suddenly raised his head.
It wasn't something they couldn't do because it's the 'Emperor's orders', but it's something they couldn't do because of his 'honor'? That meant...
"I will tell His Majesty to change your affiliation. I'm not sure where you'll go, but it'll probably be possible to change affiliation. I think he'll understand if I use the fact that I'm likely to die from a fire."
They were listening to everything, but it was too much.
"The officially recognized criminal is my junior, but you are not yet criminals, so if you change your affiliation, the surveillance will not be as thorough as when escorting a criminal. The accompanying troops will also be relatively small."
In any case, it was compared to a sinner.
Since they were not official criminals but were treated as potential criminals, there could not be no surveillance at all.
However, with their skills, they would be able to shake it off and run away.
"Then..."
"If you desert then, it won't be a big dent in my honor. Because you have already left my hands. If it were anyone other than me, I would have faced a situation like this."
Of course, nobles who were waiting for him to reveal a loophole would think he was right and try to bite him.
However, this level could be defended. If the honor was to be reduced to that level, it could be considered as if it never existed in the first place.
Stigma lightly raised the corners of his mouth.
"So just wait a bit. You don't have to worry about me catching you. I also want to get rid of you all as soon as possible."
"You... you're being too harsh..."
"What?"
"No!"
***
Click, click.
The cube spun roughly. Deon Hardt sat right below the Demon King and turned the cube with a sour expression.
Contrary to his calm expression, his insides were quite twisted.
'The results are less than I expected.'
If things had gone according to plan, one of the Imperial castles should have been taken down sooner.
The Demon King had issued a ban on magic, but he thought that with the demons' innate physical abilities, they would be able to overcome it smoothly.
'Damn it.'
There was a lack of information about the demons. Just because he spent some time in the demon world doesn't mean he knew everything about demons, so he was arrogant.
Before making a plan, he should have made sure to know information about his allies. Was this irritation at his own incompetence or was it irritation created by impatience? His nerves suddenly become sharp.
Feeling like he was going to get unreasonably annoyed at the meeting that was about to start like this, he touched the corner of his mouth in dissatisfaction and closed his eyes.
The Demon King glanced at him and naturally turned his gaze to scan the conference room, pretending not to have seen anything.
"I think all the demons have arrived... Then, let's begin. Idelia, you said there was new news about the human world, right?"
4th Corps Commander Idelia nodded.
"Yes. Kingdoms of interest in the human world have formed an alliance. The Empire, Rweche, ad Shanguk. Esperanes, the only one left out of the alliance, is a very small and closed kingdom, so assuming that it is participating, it is safe to say that almost all humans have banded together."
"... At last."
Someone muttered lowly.
A calm voice without any surprise or shock expressed resignation as if something would come.
"It's a little surprising considering what the current Empire has done..."
It was not unexpected news at all. Rather, it would be fair to say that it was later than expected.
The demons relaxed their tense bodies, crossing their arms or leaning back on their chairs with an expression that said they would come.
"Then now, the plan..."
"... The plan?"
The hand that was turning the cube stopped.
Bang!
The completed cube was placed on the desk roughly, as if being thrown. The tension that had loosened tightened again, and all the demons' attention turned to one place.
"Is there any need for a plan?"
The white-haired man had flashing red eyes.
"They will all be wiped out anyway."
"... Haha!"
The Demon King met the red eyes that were looking straight at him and burst into cheerful laughter.
After asking him to completely destroy the Empire, Deon Hardt would occasionally express his dissatisfaction with him in this way.
Unlike his previous method of asking for his resignation and expressing his regrets about his situation, he now expressed his dissatisfaction with the occupation of the human world with a subtle sarcasm.
'It's worth it.'