Ch.5The Price of Challenge (2)

Verdia and Durin sat facing each other across the table.

The atmosphere was suffocating. The daughter of the Southern ruler was completely broken, crushed under Durin’s presence.

“……”

Before being sent to the Demon King’s castle, she had been one of the greatest warriors. She had killed all her competitors to succeed her father and beheaded other warriors who challenged her. Those glorious days when she had flourished in struggle and shone brilliantly. Perhaps because her time was near, those memories flashed before her eyes like a kaleidoscope.

“I-I’m sorry. I momentarily lost my senses and did such… such an absurd thing……”

Verdia kept apologizing with vacant eyes. Her last attachment to life had turned her into a puppet. Though the outcome was already determined, this was the final struggle of someone who couldn’t end her life as a warrior.

“So, please give me one more chance……”

“Not interested. What I want to hear from you is a different answer.”

“Y-Your Excellency.”

“There’s no reason for you to call me that.”

Durin cut off Verdia’s words as if they weren’t worth hearing. At that moment, she could feel it.

It’s already over.

Verdia’s hands fell limply. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

After showing nothing but ugliness, this is how I end. I should have died earlier. To display such a shameful sight just to cling to my short life a little longer. She could no longer bear the humiliation and shame welling up inside her.

Verdia’s last candle flame toward life flickered out. With hope gone, she could ironically wear a more relaxed expression.

“Then I wish to meet my end as a Southern warrior. Please grant me the opportunity to take my own life.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I wish to face my end honorably. Please give me that chance.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Durin’s red eyes flashed. But Verdia, unafraid, stood up abruptly from her seat. Then without hesitation, she prostrated herself on the floor.

“I apologize. How dare I speak of honor when I don’t know my place. Please execute me right here. I won’t even beg.”

“So that’s what it was.”

Pfft. Spranches, standing beside Durin, couldn’t suppress his laughter. It was a rude action in the presence of a high-ranking demon, but Durin didn’t stop him.

Verdia’s face turned crimson. She wished she could just die now. She felt like she had experienced a lifetime’s worth of shame in just one hour, nearly driving her mad.

“I don’t want your life.”

Durin gave her an answer full of derision.

“Did you think I would take your life to vent my anger? I’m not idle enough to waste time on such pointless acts.”

“What? Then… what will happen to me…?”

“Your place to die is no longer here but on the battlefield. Since you’ve come to the castle, serve your purpose before you die. Considering all the food you’ve wasted, you’ll probably be serving for a long time.”

Verdia trembled at those words. Just as she had resigned herself to death, it was like a lifeline raining down on her. A final chance to prepare her end as a warrior. A moment to wipe away her disgrace. Verdia carefully opened her mouth.

“…..Is it alright for me to survive?”

“As the warrior Verdia, you have no value. But as the daughter of the South, you do have some advantages. That’s the extent of your usefulness.”

Saying this, he rose from his previous seat. He stood before Verdia, who was prostrated on the floor.

“I want to ask if you still have contact with your father. Do you feel his affection for his daughter?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t be here. I would already be dead.”

“Yes. Your head would have been cut off. Like those heads in the garden.”

“The daughter of the South died at that moment. I am an abandoned body. Neither a warrior nor a noble, just a Southern barbarian.”

Facing death multiple times, Verdia had been able to sort through all her previous emotions. Not as a hostage but as a demon, she spoke before Durin. Her trembling and fear had somehow vanished.

She simply spoke calmly to Durin.

“So I entrust everything to you. Please dispose of me as you see fit.”

“Barbarian Verdia. I will make you one of my legion soldiers. You will assist me in an upcoming expedition, so be prepared until then.”

Verdia slightly raised her head. She faced Durin’s aura that seemed capable of burning the world.

“By expedition, do you mean the South?”

“I’m going to behead your father. I cannot tolerate rebellion against the castle.”

“Do as you wish. But I don’t know how I, a barbarian, can be of help to you.”

Instead of answering, Durin drew his sword.

-Clang!

And threw it down in front of Verdia as if discarding it.

“I will clean up all the traitors from the rebelling land. So they never raise their heads again.”

“You intend to establish the castle’s authority?”

“You will be the vanguard. Gather those who have survived. And if they swear allegiance to the castle, I will consider their duty fulfilled.”

Obedience, not loyalty. Unlike other lands maintaining independence, this meant complete incorporation into the castle’s sphere of influence.

“I said I wanted a different answer. Will you join me, barbarian Verdia?”

Everything Durin said was decided. It wasn’t a disposition for Verdia but for the South. It meant cleaning up all the separatists, including her father, and laying new foundations on that land. Durin’s sword that had fallen to the floor was before Verdia’s eyes.

Her final usefulness. To become the castle’s influence in the South that would be purged.

“I will follow you.”

There was no choice.

Verdia carefully gripped the sword with both hands. She lifted it as if offering it to Durin and answered.

“The South will soon be yours.”

…….

After sending Verdia back to the reception room, Durin moved without rest. He was planning to meet Ludmila, who was waiting in the king’s hall, to discuss the expedition.

“You ended it more quietly than I expected.”

Ludmila greeted him with a noble smile. Just a few hours ago, she had been glaring at him venomously, but now she had found complete composure. The satisfaction given by the Demon King’s seal was that powerful, even if it was just for show.

“You’ve become quite mild since sitting on the throne.”

“You’re the strange one. I can’t understand why you’d give up this position and think about going outside.”

Hoohoo! Ludmila laughed, covering her mouth. Her behavior was similar to the Demon King who had taken office three generations ago. Though Durin thought she might have been reading too much about that, he didn’t want to waste time saying so.

“So you came looking for me because you had something to say. What is it?”

“You probably already know. I want to know about the movements of the most urgent rebels.”

“It’s still manageable, but the South is breaking away faster than expected.”

Ludmila clapped her hands. A sorcerer who had been waiting like Durin’s Spranches appeared with a large scroll.

“Let’s talk while looking at the map. We know about the South because it’s urgent, but I don’t know the details about the rest yet.”

“I haven’t received reports from the sorcerers.”

“We’ve just finished organizing it.”

Ludmila spread the scroll out on the central table. On the wide brown leather was a map of the demon realm. Blue circles and squares marked the Demon King’s castle’s main strongholds and resource production sites, while red indicated hostile forces. The South was glowing entirely red, confirming it had completely left their sphere of influence, while the rest of the current situation appeared as gray areas to Durin’s eyes.

“The situation is worse than I thought.”

“On the surface, only the South has broken away. But in reality, the North and West are also concerning. Our people there have all been imprisoned or exiled.”

“Is the East alright?”

“This area has a lower separatist tendency, so there shouldn’t be major problems if we guarantee their autonomy. It’s also the only place among the warlords that asked about the reason for the Demon King’s disappearance.”

“That’s fortunate… but there’s something more important.”

Durin’s gaze turned to the northeast of the map. Between the frost-blown northern region and the vast prairie of the western plains. A barren land of sticky swamps where no one except minority tribes led their people.

“Are there any movements from the angels?”

“Of course there are. Apparently, detachments are already patrolling around the border. The warlords are the problem now, but this area is no less challenging.”

Ludmila sighed deeply as she spoke. As she worried, the greatest danger to the demon realm wasn’t internal enemies like the warlords but the angels. Forces sent from heaven to monitor them were stationed in that barren land. The already difficult-to-approach swamp had transformed into something like a sanctuary as it filled with divine power instead of demonic energy.

The Demon King’s castle, always suffering from civil war due to power not concentrating well in one place, had to squeeze out troops to drive away the angels. Sometimes they gathered decent forces and attacked the garrison multiple times, but most results were unfavorable. Heaven even retaliated immediately.

A representative example was the recent hero’s invasion. They opened a dimensional gate from the human world and sent a hero here for a show of force. Such cases usually occurred on a small scale, so they had to dispatch detachments to drive them away or have the Demon King personally deal with them. The worst disaster in demon realm history occurred from a similar response during a recent hero invasion.

“The northern and western warlords must have felt threatened. For now, those two are keeping the angels in check, so they won’t come down right away.”

“Is it enough?”

“The quality of their active forces doesn’t seem that good. They seem to be at a level we can handle. However, the angels might suddenly send their main force. We should be careful.”

“It would certainly be a disaster if an archangel suddenly moved. Fortunately, those guys haven’t shown any movement yet.”

“Since the Demon King followed the hero, he probably crossed over to the human world. It’s as if the Demon King suddenly dropped into their territory, so an unimaginable emergency has occurred. They must be as chaotic as we are.”

“But they’ll be able to recover quickly.”

“I’m looking at about a month. By then, they’ll likely come not just organized but fully prepared for war.”

Thirty days. An ambiguous time that could be considered long or insufficient.

But that didn’t mean it couldn’t be done. It was a very precious time given at this critical point in the demon realm’s fate. Durin didn’t want to waste it.

“The available forces now are the royal guard and the demon beast corps. Excluding the minimum forces needed for castle defense and those deployed for security management, we should be able to field about 800.”

“800? Isn’t that too few? If we just drafted from the garrison soldiers, we could send at least 3,000.”

Ludmila asked, tilting her head. Durin shook his head in response.

“The quality is too low. The Southern warriors possess one of the strongest armies in the demon realm. If we send ordinary orc units, they’ll just be annihilated.”

“Wait. Wait. That means……”

Regular units won’t be a match.

“I plan to lead my soldiers. I’ll also draft numerous troops from the elite regiment of the garrison to fill the numbers. That should be enough to purge all the rebels within a week.”

“Can you do it? As you said, the South is a land of warriors. It could take much longer.”

“We must succeed no matter what.”

The number of high-tier units determines victory or defeat. Just as well-trained goblin soldiers can never defeat a knight from heaven. Especially in the South, where such elite soldiers abound, the importance was very high.

“We still haven’t properly traced the Demon King’s whereabouts. In the current situation, we need to achieve results quickly before anxiety amplifies.”

“You’re saying you need to find something to divert attention?”

“I’ll start the groundwork in earnest tomorrow. You should prepare your mind too.”

Durin’s fist on the table tightened.

It was a harbinger of the bloody storm about to blow.

“How many are you planning to kill this time?”

“All of them. I will erase from the castle the Southern demons who first showed disloyal movements.”

“Isn’t that excessive? There should be plenty of ways to use them.”

“You’re too soft, Ludmila.”

Durin’s aura became even more ferocious than before. Ludmila unconsciously backed away slightly. An energy that even a fellow high-ranking demon couldn’t withstand emanated from him.

“This is how demons should be handled.”

Beyond his helmet that concealed his face.

There seemed to be a chilling smile drawn there.