Chapter 116: Thus the princess returned to Veronia
Translator: Tseirp
Desmond of Earth.
The only Demon Lord Army Four Heavenly King that I fought and an opponent that Ruti had no choice but to admit was an obstacle as she could not get a solid hit in during the fight.
One year ago.
The City-State Republic of Kazan.
After we defeated a battalion of Marionette Demons, the mayors of Kazan were holding a small feast for us.
That victory was special. Even though it was only a City-State Republic, we finally regained a country that was occupied by the Demon Lord Army.
The Drake Riders dispatched from the Avalon Kingdom were joining in the festivities as they drank wine and sang.
That shining day ended in just one day.
“What is that?”
When we saw a single demon walking through the wilderness dressed in tattered clothes, Ruti asked while everyone else, including myself, stared in disbelief.
“Four Heavenly King Desmond of Earth. He finally came out.”
Ruti was the only person who could calmly watch and say that.
Alone. Desmond walked all alone toward the castle of Kazan with over 6000 soldiers including the reinforcements from Avalonia.
However, nobody laughed at his recklessness. The one laughing was ...
“That bastard is laughing.”
Danan groaned.
On Desmond’s face where his skin was attached to his bones was the grin of a brutal hunter facing a defenseless prey.
“All troops pick up your equipment! Ready bows! Something is going to happen!”
The bells rang and the soldiers quickly picked up their weapons and armors.
The lined up army fired countless arrows toward the single target.
With a raise of his hand, shadows erupted from the earth and protected Desmond with shields.
“Wha ... at ... impossible.”
Ares seemed that he could not believe the spectacle in front of his eyes.
Everyone felt the same way. How could something so unreasonable be possible?
“Ju-just a single person created golems that cover the horizon ...”
The earth shook as golems rose one after the other. Human-shaped, beast-shaped, golems with arm trebuchets, siege-tower golems that allow other golems to ride them, golems with ramming bodies to break open gates ...
“Lo-look! There are even golems with wings! Can they actually fly!?”
The golems numbered roughly a hundred thousand. There were 6000 soldiers in the castles so ... there was a 15-fold difference in numbers. It was hopeless.
“Good job dragging me out into the battlefield, Hero. Splendid job.”
Desmond clapped his hands.
Desmond’s voice was dry as though scraping dead trees. However, despite the wide battlefield, that voice mysteriously resounded throughout the area.
“Now, to make up for my subordinate’s blunder, I will attack this castle. I am the only soldier. But my army is inexhaustible.”
Desmond pointed his branch-like arm at Ruti.
“Hero. It is impossible to win against me with numbers. Only overwhelming individuals can challenge me. Will your martial prowess, capable of tearing through my army like a sandstorm that rips through flesh, reach me? I am one of the Four Heavenly King from the Demon Lord Army, Desmond of Earth. King of the armies of warriors residing in the earth. Come challenge me if you do not fear my name.”
Desmond lowered his arm. The golems started marching at once to that signal. The earth trembled.
“Onii-chan, I still can’t win against that.”
Ruti said to me.
She was right. But how many soldiers did we sacrifice to regain this country?
We planned and planned and planned and shed tons of blood and fought for the sake of today but it was overturned so absurdly.
“So that is a Demon Lord Army Four Heavenly King ... damn it! Mayors, withdraw!”
That moment was the first time we liberated a country from the occupation of the Demon Lord Army and the first time we experienced a country being snatched from us by the Demon Lord Army while we were present in the fight.
After that, we used a magic item called the Ice Dragon’s heart to freeze Desmond’s castle and defeated Desmond by snatching his control over the earth.
That many preparations were required to fight Desmond.
☆☆
Misufia and the others were quick.
They were considered lucky that the ones on guard were the Four Heavenly Kings Desmond of Earth’s subordinate, the Golem-users.
The golems which were the main defensive force do not possess independent thinking and are controlled by the Golem-users. The sudden explosion confused the Golem-users and the golems were incapacitated.
They also had the layout that Shisandan obtained so Misufia and party quickly reached the Demon Lord’s ship and knocked off the Soldier Demons on it.
It was also due to the fact that two Asura Demons, Gashasura and Chugara, were there. The two Asura cut down the Soldier Demons in the blink of an eye.
It seemed that Ririnrara understood how to pilot it. Due to her Pilot skill mastery ‘Perfect Pilot’, she could pilot any ship at first glance as long as the ship operated by physical means.
“I don’t really understand the mechanism well but I can pilot it! You guys go down to the furnace and throw in coal!”
“Ye-yes!”
The Demon Lord’s ship Wendy Dart spat out steam from its chimney and the outer wheels attached to the side of the ship started moving.
The dock was incapacitated by the self-destructing pirate ship. Misufia and party’s strategy went perfectly according to plan.
However, Misufia and party’s misfortune was that the Four Heavenly King Desmond of Earth was guarding that place.
“Disappointing subordinates, I won’t be able to retire for another 100 years at this rate.”
Desmond, in his tattered clothes, walked to the seaside and placed his hand on the ground.
“Wha-what do you plan to do!?”
Water columns rose one after another from the sea surface surrounding Wendy Dart.
Appearing from the water columns were ships with outer wheels just like the Wendy Dart vessel. However, they did not have chimneys or mast, just a ton of soldier-type golems crowding on their deck.
“No way, did he just create ship-type golems from the earth at the bottom of the sea!?”
There were eight of those ships. The golem ships appeared surrounding Wendy Dart. Misufia looked around her surroundings impatiently.
“Checkmate. Scum of the sea wasting my time. I will seal your heads in golems and submerge you in the sea for as long you live.”
Desmond roared in a dry and horrible voice. Ririnrara patiently scanned her surroundings to look for a gap in the encirclement but ... there were no gaps.
“Guh ... forgive me, Geyserik!”
Ririnrara screamed at the steering wheel.
Another water column rose into the air.
“What?”
Surprised spread across Desmond’s face.
“That’s a Carack ship. Not one of my golems. Was there a ship submerged in the water by magic?”
The man gripped the steering wheel of the ship as it shot to the sea surface with a slanted grin on his bearded mouth.
“Burn this into your eyes, Demon Lord Army! This is Avalon Continent’s great pirate Geyserik’s trusted partner Mother‧Elvir!”
“That’s bad!”
Desmond manipulated his golems to make evasive maneuvers but,
“Too late!”
At the same time Geyserik got a running start on the deck and jumped into the sea, Mother‧Elvir exploded.
One of the golem ships that received the blast directly sank while the vessel beside it was hit by the aftermath of the blast and collided with another golem ship. The golems lined up on the deck fell into the sea one after the other.
“Misufia!”
“I know! Arcane Escape!”
Swiftly picking up Geyserik with magic, Wendy Dart broke through from within the flames of Mother‧Elvir.
Desmond’s complexion changed and he created golems with wings and carried himself to a golem ship.
“I won’t let you get away!”
Wendy Dart left the tattered and sinking Mother‧Elvir behind and escaped into the open sea as Desmond chased them.
☆☆
“Desmond pursued us consecutively for three days but the open ocean was not the Earth Four Heavenly King’s strong ground. We linked up with vessel Breit that was gathering food and water and returned to the Avalon Continent.”
They actually stole a ship from under Desmond’s nose.
I don’t believe Geyserik’s party was stronger than Desmond. However, they were definitely better than Desmond in that engagement.
A mere pirate climbed to the ranks of a 『Emperor』 of a great nation.
I don’t know what kind of skills did he use but he was a man suited to be called a Hero.
The scene returned to one which we were familiar with, the green continent of Avalon.
“Heeeee!”
The Duke of Oslo was down on his hands and knees. He was the biggest noble in the Kingdom of Veronia who tried to marry Misufia and take her as his concubine.
At the moment, Geyserik, the Half-Elf Ririnrara, and Misufia were looking down at him.
Around them were the collapsed private soldiers of the Duke of Oslo. Two Asura were seated on top of the corpses chatting.
Misufia spoke to the Duke of Oslo.
“Your Excellency, thank you for adopting a useless girl like me. I am here today to receive that right.”
“Yo-you are that Princess Misufia who was kidnapped by pirates!?”
“Yes, it has been a long time. I came to receive all the heritage for becoming your wife.”
“Pre-preposterous! We did not exchange any wedding ceremonies and I will not give a single grain of rice to a concubine!”
“Didn’t you teach this to me first?”
“What ...”
“Lawlessness is possible with enough strength.”
“Gah!?”
Misufia’s sharp, pointed metal magic wand pierced through the Duke of Oslo’s back.
“First, we can’t start if you don’t die. I don’t actually hate you or anything. Since I encountered Geyserik because of you.”
“A-a princess acting as a pirate ... Ugahhhh!!”
Misufia thrust the wand deeper and the Duke of Oslo gave his final death cry and convulsed a few times before he stopped moving.
“Hearing you preach about the nobility is unpleasant.”
After obtaining the strongest ship in the world, Geyserik and party attacked the Duke of Oslo’s territory and murdered him. They occupied his territory and took effective control over it.
“At that time, nobody in the Kingdom of Veronia could defy the Duke of Oslo. In that case, they could not go against Geyserik who defeated the Duke of Oslo either. Lawlessness is possible with enough strength. That fact held true in the Kingdom of Veronia during that age.”
Misufia self-proclaimed herself to the position of the Duke of Oslo and returned to the Veronian royal family.
Geyserik took control over the pirates in the shallows near Veronia and took just two months after his return to be feared by his alias of Pirate Champion.
Pirate Champion Geyserik and Plundering Duchess Misufia.
“Then, the upheaval by the Goblin King Murgarga began and the Kingdom of Veronia was incapable of dealing with the goblins and the pirates who took advantage of the turmoil. At that point, I returned to the Royal Palace and assigned half of the Duke of Oslo’s territory under the direct control of the royal family and the other half to Geyserik as his territory along with the title of Earl of Oslo. I made my father approve that contract.”
Mistome-shi narrowed her eyes and exhaled.
“Sorry for bringing you all through my lengthy past history. Just a little more. But I am sure you all are tired from standing for so long. Before I show you my last memory on the reason why I am here, why Sarius is looking for me, and why Ririnrara wants to kill me ... let us take a short break. I will prepare fresh drinks.”
The illusion disappeared and the Horror Fog, content with its meal of all kinds of emotions, floated to a corner of the house.
Mistome-shi swirled her hand as if to pat the Horror Fog and went to the kitchen.
Author’s note:
The comicalized version on Comic Walker is available for free! (Prologue and Chapter 1 part 1)
In commemoration, I will post a reverse novel version of the comicalized episode 1 next for readers of the web novel to enjoy as well!