A massive flame of a different scale than before engulfed the demons.
“This is terrible, Klad. The fire…!”
He worried the fire might spread to the surrounding trees, but fortunately the fire died down and disappeared before spreading. It seemed Klad was controlling it so the mountain wouldn’t be damaged.
Jake, who had worried they might cover the village in a sea of flames while trying to save it, let out a sigh of relief.
The moment his body relaxed along with his sigh, Klad suddenly turned the horse and ran in the opposite direction.
“Hold tight.”
“Whoa!”
Jake hugged Klad’s arm once again.
“Klad, there are still demons left!”
“Since their target is you, they’ll follow on their own.”
Just as Klad said, the demons who had been suffering from the lightning strike got up from their spots and immediately ran chasing after Jake.
“I’ve never heard of demons acting like that. It’s as if… as if……”
“Like they’re being controlled?”
“…Yes. They look as if they’ve received orders to dispose of me first no matter what. But demons wouldn’t listen even if ordered! Even if it were the Demon King, he couldn’t move them around like limbs.”
“There must have been someone who could give orders.”
“Who on earth…”
“If it’s someone who would send demons to kill the Hero, there’s only one person.”
“……”
Jake vaguely knew whose doing this was.
He kept denying it because this wasn’t possible and shouldn’t be possible.
“…No matter how much Father has conducted long research, he couldn’t possibly be able to control demons. Such a thing that goes against the providence of nature…”
Jake trailed off.
What about going against the providence of nature? That it’s illegal? That it goes against principles? That it’s immoral? When it was difficult to pick out among the things Father had done what wasn’t illegal and immoral, what was the point of arguing about it now?
“…Placing an entire race under an individual’s control is impossible even for dragons.”
“Dragons don’t do it not because they can’t, but because they won’t.”
“Then you’re saying Father didn’t hesitate to execute something even dragons think is wrong!”
The dragons probably didn’t act based on right and wrong, but were just too bothered, but Klad didn’t bother explaining.
“Could the reason they’re chasing me not be because they received Father’s orders, but because I still have the Hero’s energy?”
“Their behavior is too mechanical for that. Demons are no different from humans except that they harbor demonic energy and have aggressive tendencies. Looking at that state, it only makes sense that they’re being controlled.”
“Brainwashing magic is known to not last long and can’t be cast on multiple people at once, so are you saying Father developed higher-level advanced magic several levels above that?”
“Judging by how I can’t feel any magical power at all, it’s probably not magic.”
Jake hung his head low at the powerlessness pouring over him.
Since he was still clinging to Klad’s arm, he ended up resting his head on that arm.
“Don’t tell me… don’t tell me those aren’t actually demons but existences created by transforming people into demons? Like the priest we met in Baron Nolson’s city back then.”
“See those guys following behind?”
Though it wasn’t an appropriate answer to the previous question, Jake only turned his head while resting it on Klad’s arm to look at the demons following them.
“I see them.”
“The one with bluish skin. The one with pointed ears. The ones with wings or tails. They obviously look different from humans, right?”
“Are you trying to argue that because their appearance is different, they’re not humans who became demons? Couldn’t their appearance have changed as demonization progressed?”
“Probably not. The priest we saw in Baron Nolson’s territory showed no change in appearance even though demonization had progressed quite far.”
“Perhaps appearance changes at the final stage of demonization.”
“Only magic can change appearance in an instant.”
Klad stated firmly.
Even among magic, those that could change appearance in an instant were countable on one hand. Representative examples were three: the advanced magic Polymorph that transformed into other species’ forms, dyeing magic that colored hair or eye color with different colors, and illusion-type magic that made one’s appearance look different to others’ eyes.
Even these were temporary rather than permanent, and Polymorph magic was the exclusive domain of dragons and impossible to cast on others rather than oneself.
In other words, unless gradually changing and altering the body, it was impossible to completely change both race and appearance even with the power of magic or alchemy.
The priest maintained human form even as demonization was nearing completion, which meant humans maintained their original form even after becoming demons.
“I learned that the higher the demons’ rank, the closer their appearance is to humans. Couldn’t it be that the priest’s rank was quite high, so even though demonized, they still looked human?”
“Do you know what demon has the appearance closest to humans? The Demon King. Are you trying to claim that just demonizing a single ordinary priest resulted in rebirth with power as strong as the Demon King?”
“……It was an argument that doesn’t make sense. I withdraw it.”
However, even if they were just controlled demons rather than demonized humans, the situation didn’t change.
No, it was actually more serious.
Even roughly counting, the number of demons that appeared in the village exceeded a dozen. However, according to information learned from the conversation with Baron Nolson last time, the number of demons the duke possessed was only nine.
That had multiplied to dozens in just a few days.
‘Does the Black Sphere play a role in attracting demons?’
If so, it would make sense. But he couldn’t be certain.
“I thought Father only forcibly confined them and released them wherever he wanted because he dealt with demons. That alone is threatening enough, but if he can control all their actions and movements… the world will become more dangerous. I can’t even imagine what terrible disaster would befall if their target became the imperial citizens instead of me.”
Jake trembled with indignation.
He didn’t know where the limits of that ability to command demons were, but if left alone, the entire world would become a world of demons even without a Demon King.
“It’s okay. The duke doesn’t yet have the ability to control strong demons.”
Klad spoke as if comforting the trembling Jake.
Demons weren’t hereditary. Having a high rank meant having that much stronger power. In other words, it meant those demons chasing behind were all weak ones.
There must be limits to the duke’s ability, so he couldn’t control strong demons.
“But…”
“What else are you worried about?”
“But even though you attacked so hard, not a single demon died, so we can’t call them weak.”
Neiiigh—!
Because Klad pulled the reins hard without warning, the horse stopped in place while expressing its displeasure.
“Huk!”
Jake, who nearly got thrown off from the recoil of the horse suddenly stopping, barely maintained his position thanks to Klad catching him.
Jake looked back at Klad with a face full of bewilderment.
“What’s wrong, Klad! Don’t tell me you were attacked? Are you okay?”
“I controlled it on purpose.”
“What?”
“I controlled it so they wouldn’t die because there might be traps set up like explosions or demonic energy pouring out when demons are killed. It’s not that I couldn’t kill them.”
“Ah.”
So right now, Klad hadn’t stopped because he was surprised by a demon attack, but because he was upset at being told he couldn’t even handle the lowest-rank demons.
“I understand, so let’s hurry, Klad. At this rate we’ll be caught.”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something, but we’re not trying to run away.”
“If we’re not running away, then what?”
“We just moved to a place more convenient for battle. If any trap goes off here, the village won’t get caught up in it.”
Klad quickly scanned the demons running toward them.
The number was roughly around twenty. It was an enormous number for demons controlled by an individual.
‘Why isn’t the duke appearing?’
The usual Duke West would have been excited at the news of discovering Jake and come running first. If it was a situation where he couldn’t come personally, he would have at least sent that knight bastard they saw at Baron Nolson’s lord’s castle.
If he had even the slightest intention of keeping Jake alive to use him, he should have sent at least one person who could communicate. Not these puppet demons who had forgotten all thoughts except ‘kill Jake.’
‘This is… a bit ominous.’
Was there a reason the duke couldn’t make a personal appearance?
Or was there a reason he had to send only demons?
Whichever it was, once they dealt with the demons and found out what ‘trap’ they harbored, they would be able to know.
“Hold tight.”
At that warning, Jake clung to Klad once again.
Wuuuung.
The flow of air reversed and a fierce wind blew, enough that even Jake, who couldn’t sense magical power, could feel it.
Flames rose from Klad’s hand stretched toward the demons.
And the moment something flashed at his fingertips.
Kugugugugugugung—
Kwaaaaang!
An explosion incomparable to before engulfed the entire area.
