Ch.380Chapter 380 – Sitting Before the Coffin

I have never once acknowledged the Demon Lord as the true king.

At Sirius’s resolute statement, the audience chamber of Firenchena Palace fell silent for a moment.

“…That’s a strange thing to say. Our demon allies who formed a pact with us testified that you fought under his command.”

Gabriella asked with a cold expression.

Sirius bowed her head slightly and replied.

“To deceive the enemy, deceive your allies first. Has Your Majesty heard this saying before?”

Sirius said with a slight smirk.

“While deliberately bowing my head to him, I subtly undermined his forces. I crushed loyal demons by collapsing buildings as traps to kill my comrades. Of course, I left evacuation routes for my true allies and quietly conveyed their locations.”

Gigas frowned at Sirius’s words.

Indeed, Sirius had collapsed a building claiming she would eliminate Sia.

At the same time, Sera had discovered the blood mist rising from the building’s floor and quickly led them to safety below.

“Of course, you survived because you were quick-witted… because you trusted me.”

Sirius smiled, covering her mouth with her fan.

Watching her, Gigas quietly sighed.

‘I wondered why she acted that way back then, so this was the reason.’

As Gigas unconsciously began to lower his guard, Sirius nodded with satisfaction and continued.

“The Demon Lord was never fit to stand above others. He has no intention of leading his people, only demanding his own will be done. He ignores the wishes of those around him and prioritizes only his own desires. And those who resist, he simply crushes with violence. Why should I serve as king someone who is obsessed solely with the logic of power, with no thought for the future, thinking only of himself?”

Sirius spoke quietly.

“Despite appearances, I am a demon who holds a position, however inadequate, leading the vampires. As a leader, one must act with the future of one’s race in mind. And following the Demon Lord’s methods, it was obvious the vampires would face extinction before long.”

Sirius explained calmly.

“This isn’t just about vampires. It’s about everyone in the demon realm. Not everyone in the demon realm is strong. Many are weak and sick. But among them are many wise ones who can lead the demon realm’s future. There are many young ones who, though weak now, have bright futures ahead. If we fight here and there according to the Demon Lord’s logic of power, such individuals will be the first to be sacrificed. The future of the demon realm would be literally shattered.”

Gabriella listened calmly to Sirius’s words.

“Violence can only yield a broken future. These are the words left by the king I truly served.”

Sirius spoke quietly again.

“Therefore, those concerned about the future decided to move in the shadows. And since my lazy husband couldn’t move freely, I, inadequate as I am, had to step onto the front lines.”

“Rage…?”

Vanilla quietly mentioned the name of the vampire who had fought Beatrice in Albheim.

Sirius nodded at Vanilla’s words.

“My husband, as you know, once served as a legion commander. Originally not one to serve under the Demon Lord, the Demon Lord never lowered his guard even after my husband’s surrender.”

“In other words, among the vampires, the Demon Lord only had eyes for Rage.”

Vanilla said, narrowing his eyes.

Sirius smiled and slightly lifted the hem of her dress.

“Thanks to that, it was easier to gain his trust.”

“Hah.”

“My husband will surely see me in a new light now.”

Sirius said with a smile.

Soon, Vanilla carefully spoke.

“…Rage would probably try to gloss over this somehow. Was it the fear of affection? Rage said that after getting married, she clung to him too much…”

“Let’s save personal stories for later.”

Unable to say what he wanted to, Vanilla quietly averted his gaze.

Meanwhile, seeing the two demons gradually lowering their guard when they had been very wary of her at first, Archery began to wonder if she should remain tense as well.

Then, Gigas quietly asked.

“So the vampires you brought and mercilessly sacrificed were those who agreed with the Demon Lord’s logic.”

“Those vampires who fully supported the Demon Lord’s logic are, frankly speaking, unnecessary. They would only be harmful to the future demon realm.”

Sirius stated firmly.

Soon Gigas spoke quietly.

“The Demon King will punish you. …Even though he understands the necessity, he dislikes demons fighting among themselves when they should be united.”

Gigas said carefully.

Sirius quietly nodded and continued.

“It’s for my husband, the demon realm, and all demons. I’ll gladly pay the price.”

Looking into Sirius’s eyes, Gigas quietly nodded.

Soon, he looked at Archery and said.

“I think we can trust her, Lord Archery.”

“…But.”

“Let’s follow Gigas’s suggestion, Lord Archery.”

It was Gabriella who calmed the tense Archery.

Soon Gabriella looked down at Sirius and said.

“I understand your backstory. But we haven’t even gotten to the main point yet.”

At Gabriella’s words, Sirius nodded slightly.

“Let me ask again. State your purpose, demon.”

“As you wish, merciful Queen of Firenchena.”

After saying this, Sirius opened her mouth with slightly exaggerated gestures.

“By now, my husband should be rescuing our comrades and innocent people. While I come here to persuade and gain recognition from you all, he plans to rescue the prisoners and Baphomet held by the Demon Lord.”

Sirius said quietly.

“However, even if they are rescued, they have no land where they can rest safely. The demon realm is still the domain of those who support the Demon Lord, and the vampire territory is still in the midst of being cleansed.”

Gabriella quietly thought that she was beginning to guess the purpose.

And as she expected, Sirius quietly opened her mouth.

“In the end, there is only one place where we can rest.”

Gabriella briefly looked at Vanilla and Gigas.

While recalling the place she had granted to those who had helped in this battle, Sirius quietly spoke.

“On behalf of the vampire nobility, and in the name of my king, Risrilia Bael, I dare to ask.”

Sirius bowed her head.

“Just as Gigas and Vanilla did, will you permit the asylum of surrendered demons?”

For this purpose, she had come here, Sirius quietly waited for Gabriella’s answer.

+

In the middle of the night.

Having received a signal from the mage accompanying Kay’s group, Diana quickly directed her ship toward the source of the signal.

They had agreed that while they would go by boat, Beatrice would use magic to indicate their location when they were ready to return.

After confirming the location, Diana carefully steered the ship and reached the island where the laboratory was located.

She docked the ship at the pier that showed signs of previous human presence and waited. Soon after, she could see the group coming to the pier one by one.

Among them, Diana could spot the ones she had been hoping for.

‘They’re safe.’

Perhaps because they were exhausted, Diana took a deep breath of relief seeing Christina being carried on Kay’s back and Kara walking weakly.

Diana genuinely rejoiced at the safe return of these individuals whom she had unconsciously come to regard as grandchildren because they resembled her daughter.

As she checked each returning member one by one, Diana soon realized that two people were missing.

And instead, she noticed two coffins being levitated by magic.

‘No way.’

She quickly looked at the faces of the returned group again.

And soon realized that the red-haired woman and the blue-haired swordswoman were nowhere to be seen.

‘Was there a trap inside?’

It was a moment when Diana was wondering how to comfort them.

“Captain, there’s some strange object over there…!”

“What?”

At the startled voice of a nearby sailor, Diana quickly turned her gaze in that direction.

And indeed, a strange object was approaching.

A huge cylindrical object filled with green liquid had two thin legs attached underneath.

The legs seemed to walk surprisingly well, though they were staggering a bit.

It seemed too clumsy to be an enemy.

“…What on earth is that?”

Diana thought that since Kay’s group didn’t seem particularly concerned about the strange object, it probably wasn’t dangerous.

Soon the large cylinder sat down near Kay’s group.

The next moment, Diana confirmed that Seraphina and Sia, who had been missing until now, appeared from behind the monstrous object.

From the looks of it, Sia had just been standing behind while Seraphina had carried it alone.

‘A monster indeed.’

She had heard that Seraphina was strong, but this was beyond standard.

Diana briefly entertained the silly thought of asking for help with heavy lifting if the orphanage ever needed to relocate.

Still, everyone was safe.

Diana was quietly pleased with this fact.

At the same time, her joy turned to curiosity.

‘Then what are those two coffins?’

They wouldn’t be carrying such things without reason.

While Diana was wondering about the identity of the coffins, sailors brought a large plank and placed it diagonally against the ship’s railing, calling out.

“Come up carefully!”

Realizing that the huge monstrous object was also something the people needed to bring aboard, the sailors were using a sturdy plank instead of a rope to allow people to come up.

Eve and Kay, who were at the front, nodded to each other once and began climbing up the plank.

+

“A plank instead of a ladder. They immediately realized this needs to be carried.”

Beatrice said, looking at the ship.

Then she quietly addressed the group, including herself.

“Eve and I will go up first.”

I wanted to lay Chris, whom I was carrying on my back, on a bed, and I also needed to explain everything to Diana.

“Then I’ll go with Sia to bring our guests.”

With those words, Beatrice took Sia and headed back to the laboratory.

After watching them for a moment, I made eye contact with Eve and quietly stepped onto the plank.

Soon after Eve and I climbed onto the ship, Diana opened her mouth without hiding her delight.

“You’ve all been through a lot. Everyone.”

“…Yes.”

Eve answered for me.

Soon after we both bowed our heads, Diana smiled and said.

“Did things go well?”

“We’ll need to sort through everything ourselves to know that.”

The materials obtained from inside were still unorganized.

We would need to organize everything at once, including the new knowledge Beatrice had gained.

So at this point, I couldn’t tell if there had been any harvest or not.

That was the meaning behind my words, but Diana seemed to think things hadn’t gone well and comforted us.

“These things happen. Next time will be better.”

“I’m sure it will. Thank you for your concern.”

I bowed my head quietly to Diana as I spoke.

Diana nodded, accepting my gratitude.

And then, with a quiet face, she asked.

“By the way, what are those two coffins?”

“Our mage and alchemist made them from materials gathered in the buildings inside.”

“I’m not asking how the coffins were made, as you well know.”

Diana quietly asked.

“Please explain. What are they?”

“Those…”

I swallowed for a moment.

But I had to tell the story.

I quietly opened my mouth.

“One contains a person from my homeland who was detained and sacrificed.”

“That’s unfortunate. I pray they’ve gone to a better place.”

Diana looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

Then she opened her mouth again and asked.

“And the other one?”

“It’s your daughter.”

“Daughter?”

Diana asked as if she didn’t understand what I was saying.

I quietly spoke to her.

“We found the body of Platina, the former Saint of the Emilis Order, inside.”

“…”

“It’s this coffin.”

Diana’s eyes widened.

For a moment, she quietly digested my words.

Soon, with a speed that belied her elderly body, she opened the coffin I had pointed to.

And seeing the person lying inside who looked exactly like Kara, Diana’s eyes widened for a moment.

Soon, she looked at me with sharp eyes.

“This isn’t my daughter. …My daughter was fully grown. She should be at an age where she worries about wrinkles by now.”

“I’ll explain.”

I quietly explained what had happened inside.

As previously discussed with my companions, I omitted details like Somnus’s identity.

But there were certain truths I needed to convey to her.

With difficulty, I opened my mouth and told only the truth we had agreed to share.

“…Only the brain remained, you say?”

Diana said with wide eyes.

“No, that can’t be right. Only the brain remained…”

“It’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”

I opened my mouth with difficulty.

“Somnus desecrated your daughter’s body… and insulted the deceased with only the intact brain. What we found were just those traces. …The desecration was already severe, and we were concerned it would worsen if we tried to recover it as it was…”

We had carefully placed the brain in a hastily created body and put it in a coffin to bring back.

It was a solution we had come up with after discussion among the group, as we couldn’t show Diana the miserable state of the corpse.

However, Sia had quietly suggested that for Diana’s sake, the truth should be told.

‘It’s easy to give her temporary comfort. But remember that peace obtained through lies always comes with a price.’

Was this advice from her own experience?

There was Sia’s opinion that we shouldn’t hide from Diana how Platina had met her death under the pretext of being considerate.

Thus, the opinion to tell Diana the truth was accepted.

And I volunteered to take on the role of conveying the truth.

Because I thought it was a matter of duty, not qualification.

“…I placed the pendant you gave us around the body’s neck, as it had lost its effectiveness.”

“I see.”

“Thanks to Platina’s pendant, Chris was able to save her life.”

Diana didn’t say anything for a moment.

“I had a feeling in my heart that she might be dead…”

Diana said quietly.

“…But not being able to recover a proper body is too cruel.”

After leaving those words, Diana quietly sat in front of Platina’s coffin.

“…Tina…”

Was it a nickname for Saint Platina?

Diana softly called out Platina’s name in front of the coffin.

Diana’s back looked smaller than usual.

I thought about quietly leaving, but my legs wouldn’t move.

A moment later, the sound of a mother’s weeping for her lost daughter spread throughout the ship.