Chapter 148
“Get rid of it.”
“Yes.”
The elves carried away the fainted Logar and disappeared.
“…You brought the princess as well. Is she the last of the Four Heavenly Kings?”
“Didn’t you say you hated being a Dark Knight?”
“I still don’t like it. It’s just that…”
He couldn’t forget Ernan’s desperate face when he begged him to form the Four Heavenly Kings in his stead.
“Just that?”
“It’s nothing. But you’ve kidnapped a rather dangerous princess.”
“You know Louise Verft?”
“I know she’s one of the greatest troublemakers in the Verft Kingdom. I heard she was put under house discipline because of the Tartaa incident.”
“I’ll tell you something special. Louise Verft personally cracked Prince Ormus’ skull open in Tartaa.”
“…What?”
A crack ran across Kaede’s expression.
“…They said it was done by the Demon King.”
“That’s how it was announced.”
“How did the Demon King know…?”
“Because he watched from a very good seat. Well, it was technically self-defense. Ormus’ second prince tried to kidnap Louise Verft first.”
“He planned to detain her using the Demon King as an excuse and negotiate with the Verft Kingdom?”
“Probably?”
Only then did Kaede nod as if the pieces finally fit.
“And yet she managed to avoid being found out.”
“That’s because there wasn’t a single survivor from Ormus. The dwarf handled everything personally.”
“Then why is Logar reacting like that?”
“Before Logar was kidnapped by me, he was crafting a weapon for Louise Verft.”
“I understand.”
“So? Will you handle it?”
“Handle what?”
“As the princess who was kidnapped before her, do you plan to discipline your junior? That type is easier to handle when stepped on properly once. You’re the senior who arrived first.”
Louise wasn’t the type to quiet down from something so small, but since she’d been kidnapped, she had to be made manageable somehow.
Assigning someone in charge was a good method.
“Isn’t there also the option of keeping her frozen?”
“That’s only something the Frost Tribe can do. I have talent for melting or burning things, not freezing.”
And that last comment didn’t sound like something a princess should be telling another princess.
“The statue can’t hear us, can it?”
“That’s right.”
Berze chuckled. Kaede had changed a lot from before—likely because of Ernan.
“So, your answer?”
“…Discipline, seniority… I’m not particularly interested in those.”
Clack—
Kaede hardened her expression and gripped the hilt of her sword.
“I am a knight. If you give me an order, I simply obey.”
Berze silently signaled to the elves who had brought Logar to the second floor.
Moments later, every statue of the craftsmen was removed. Berze summoned a small flame.
He threw it, and it devoured what had once been Louise. Frost and heat collided, sending clouds of steam into the air.
And from within—
“What… what is…?!”
Louise Verft regained consciousness.
Her mind had been stuck in the garden of the detached palace—the moment she fought the demon race who had deceived her.
The sudden change of scenery disoriented her.
But reality settled quickly. In the distance stood the demon who had kidnapped her.
“So it was you!”
Was this an illusion? Or a kidnapping?
It didn’t matter. She could just kill them.
Her short legs slammed against the ground. The enormous axe fell vertically, as if cleaving the world.
────!
The violent recoil forced her back two steps. Shards of her own leaping aura scratched her skin.
But the demon didn’t budge. A woman stood in front of him.
A knight clad in well-forged armor, maintaining a sharp prayer-like aura.
“And who are you?”
“A pleasure to meet you, Louise Verft. This is our first time face-to-face.”
“I said—who are you? No, forget it. If you’re guarding a demon, you’re just another demon…”
“Kaede Jespine. Ninth imperial princess of the Jespine Empire.”
“…Princess?”
Louise’s brow twitched.
“…The princess kidnapped by the Flame Demon King?”
“That is correct.”
“Then this place is…?”
“The Tower of Flame.”
“Then that bastard is…?”
“He is not a bastard—he is the Flame Demon King. Please be mindful of your language.”
So she really was kidnapped by the Demon King.
She had never imagined anyone would dare kidnap her, which made the situation strangely new. But the fact of being kidnapped wasn’t the biggest issue now.
“Why?”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“Why is a princess guarding that Demon King bastard?”
Kidnapping? If she stretched reason, she could believe a Demon King who snapped had done something reckless.
After all, the Lust Demon King was like that.
But the image of an imperial princess serving the Demon King was unthinkable no matter how she imagined it.
Maybe this was a dream. That made more sense—being kidnapped by the Lust Demon King and wandering inside a succubus’s illusion.
Yes, that was far more realistic. That woman must be holding a grudge after losing her tail.
“Everyone has their own circumstances—ah.”
Kaede stopped mid-sentence.
I can’t believe I’m saying this.
It was the same answer Ernan once gave her when she asked why he served the Demon King.
She could roughly guess how he felt. Louise Verft was probably just like she had been back then.
From her own experience, the most effective method was—
To make sure her situation was carved into her mind.
“Why did you stop talking?”
“Is more explanation necessary? Setting aside being a princess, I am now the Demon King’s knight. If you want to kill the Demon King and escape the tower, defeat me.”
“A Demon King’s knight? And that means…?”
Louise urgently raised her axe. A razor-sharp blade cut through the air and struck the side of her axe.
“Do we really need to talk when we both have good blades and axes?”
“…An imperial princess resorts to such cheap tricks?”
“I am a Dark Knight now. And as a Dark Knight, I am blocking your way.”
So—
You had better give it your all.
Berze noticed the faint rise of Kaede’s lips.
‘Come to think of it…’
Since Kaede arrived at the tower, wasn’t this practically her first real battle against an opponent of equal rank?
For some reason, she looked genuinely excited.
***
When people describe Kaede Jespine, they often say she possesses the greatest swordsmanship among the imperial family.
One might call that narrow—like a frog in a well—if the comparison were merely within the imperial family, but one must remember who the imperial family actually is.
The Jespine Empire—greatest and strongest nation on the continent.
From childhood, they take elixirs of every kind, and the greatest talents gathered from across the continent teach them.
And beyond that, what they learn ultimately leads to the royal family’s secret arts. Their studies, their teachers, and their foundations are all exceptional. To stand at the top among them could never be a simple feat.
And after arriving at the Demon King’s tower, she advanced another step further.
In this mana-scarce, extreme environment, her micro-control of aura became more precise and faster.
She had also witnessed—right beside her—an upper-class spirit summoning that one might not see even once in a lifetime. The pure spirit mana she absorbed then greatly helped her take another step forward.
Because of that, Kaede was—
Strong.
────!
Golden aura danced.
The Tyrant Emperor’s sword strike pressed down against the axe.
Louise stepped back. The unresolved shock rattled her entire body.
What is this…?
Before she could recover, Kaede moved again—tearing through space like a fired bullet.
Speed combined with strength became overwhelming violence on its own.
─!
Louise’s feet dug into the ground. Twisting muscles, the pain of bones screaming—everything burst out as raw sound.
“You damn wench!”
Louise tightened her grip on the axe. Forcing her body to shake off the shock, she swung the axe wide.
A fierce gust tore outward with a heavy whoom. Kaede stepped back. Louise reset her stance.
And this time, she charged first.
She swung the axe. Her tawny aura was so fierce it seemed capable of severing space itself.
A sharp golden flash twisted through the air, narrowly missing her vital point. A shallow cut sliced Louise’s skin—the price of allowing the axe to fully reach her opponent.
─!
But the sword that should’ve been elsewhere had already returned to position. Instead of splitting flesh and bone, the axe crashed into the blade.
A collision of pure strength—an outright contest of might—for once pushed Kaede back two steps.
Oh?
Louise smiled for the first time.
Yes, if she did it properly, there was no way she’d lose in raw strength.
The dwarf’s small but dense muscles bulged even more. To keep the momentum she had seized, she chased after the retreating Kaede.
The Verft royal family’s secret techniques carved brown arcs in the air. They crashed down like a storm, smashing everything in their path.
I’ll grind her down just like this.
Seeing that twisted smile, Kaede sharpened her senses even further.
The storm of axe swings was death itself—if she slipped even once, everything would be taken. But that was all.
Kagagak—
Her sword moved. It clashed with the axe, then deflected it.
Once might be luck, twice is inevitability, and three times is skill.
And when that continues, it becomes a gap—an unbridgeable difference.
It didn’t take long for Louise’s smile to disappear.
The strength behind her axe increased, the ground shattered in gruesome patterns from the force—but none of it reached Kaede.
And then—
At last—
──!
The axe slipped from its master’s hand. The skin of Louise’s palm tore open, spilling blood. The overheated sword blade carved into the ground right beside her fallen form.
“It is over.”
Kaede calmly declared Louise’s defeat.
***
Clap clap clap clap—
“Excellent.”
Berze’s applause echoed through the now-quiet first floor.
Impressive.
In the previous timeline—before regression—Kaede did not exist in the future. She had died in the Tower of Deceit, never unfolding her wings.
So he had not expected her to perform to this extent.
Even though she’s not a hero, she overwhelmed Louise—one of the strongest individuals you can count on a single hand?
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t total domination. But what did that matter? She had maintained superiority the entire time. And when she lost in pure strength, she simply exploited the opening and ended it instantly.
And she’s an imperial princess.
One with deep ties to the Third Prince—who still had a chance at the throne.
Her value was dazzling.
“Well done.”
“Thank you.”
“And now, Louise Verft.”
Berze crouched down and met the eyes of the fallen Louise.
“What do you plan to do now?”
“……”
“You’ve been kidnapped into the Demon King’s tower, and you lost to my knight. You have two choices.”
“Choices?”
“You can keep resisting like a brute, get your limbs bound, and rot in prison until someone rescues you—or you can become my retainer and serve me.”
“You really are insane, aren’t you?”
Louise scoffed.
“I don’t know how you convinced that empty-headed girl, but you think I would serve someone like you?”
“If you don’t, you’ll rot in an underground cell for the rest of your life.”
“Ridiculous. You think the Verft Kingdom will sit still? You’re done for.”
“Is that so?”
Berze silently handed her a sheet of paper.
“You’re still a dwarf princess—even a troublemaker dwarf princess—so you can at least read that, can’t you?”
“…You’re completely unhinged, aren’t you?”
Louise burst into stunned laughter. It was a blueprint—something absurd, impossible, unbelievable.
“I’ll use that to leave my rightful place. Then the heroes who come to rescue you will waste their efforts chasing the wrong thing. Forever. And of course, you’ll still be locked in prison.”
“You really think this is possible?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“If you weren’t stupid, you wouldn’t have kidnapped me in the first place. Listen well. This is a golem! And not just any golem—over twenty meters tall!”
“And?”
“In the Verft Kingdom—the most advanced in magi-engineering—even ten meters is the limit! And some demon who doesn’t even know the m of magi-engineering is going to build a twenty-meter golem?!”
“Of course, I—a Demon King—don’t know the m of magi-engineering. But I’m not the one making it. Dwarves like you are.”
“…Dwarves?”
“The designer’s name is written in the corner. You can read it, can’t you?”
‘Logar Friedri.’
“…Logar?”
“How do you think I know about Logar?”
“…Logar is here?”
“I kidnapped him. And along with you, I kidnapped forty-nine master dwarf craftsmen from the royal workshop. And that’s not all. Look around.”
Not far from where Kaede and Louise had fought, materials were stacked in towering piles.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg. More supplies will arrive soon, and all of it will become golem material.”
“N-no matter what, building a golem like that is impossible.”
“The most important part of a golem is the core. And isn’t the only reason you’re stuck at ten meters because you can’t create a proper core?”
“Right. The core is the culmination of magi-engineering. Even with the entire kingdom working together, ten meters is the limit. And you think fifty dwarves will make any difference?”
It wasn’t completely wrong. The royal workshop’s master craftsmen and Logar were hardly “just fifty dwarves,” but when it came to core creation, the logic held. If it were so easy, Verft Kingdom’s golems would already be dozens of meters tall.
However—
“When did I ever say I’d create a core? Is there a core included in that blueprint?”
Louise checked the blueprint again.
There wasn’t.
There was no mention of a core anywhere.
“What is this…?”
“The core is the tower itself. The tower will supply the power on its own, so there’s no need to make one.”
“There’s no way something like that is possible…”
“The authority of the Demon Realm is the greatest in the universe. Unlike dwarves who hide in one dimension and brag about being the best.”
“……”
“At the very least, Logar thought it was possible. You know his skill better than anyone, don’t you? You whined endlessly begging him to make you weapons.”
“……”
Louise didn’t answer. But it was clear to anyone that she was desperately calculating, considering the possibility.
“If you spend your entire life in prison, you won’t be able to swing that beloved axe of yours. Axe? Forget exercise, you won’t be doing anything involving muscles.”
“M–my muscle loss!”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Tsk. Berze clicked his tongue. He decided this was the perfect moment to offer her a carrot.
He held up ten fingers.
“Ten years.”
“What?”
“If you become my retainer, I’ll work you for just ten years, then release you. Better to suffer briefly and enjoy freedom than rot in prison for life, isn’t it?”
“Lies! Why would I trust the bullshit of a Demon King?”
“I swear it on the First Demon Emperor and the sacred code that is dearer than my own life.”
“The First Demon Emperor… and the sacred code…?”
“You know very well how precious and trustworthy those two are to demonkind, don’t you?”
“……”
A stillness settled. It was a long time before Louise finally opened her mouth.
“One more thing.”
“What is it?”
“Logar. Let me deal with Logar as I wish. That infuriating bastard…”
“You can’t cause any major injury or kill him. And you can’t interfere with his ability to work.”
“…Fine.”
“But there’s a price.”
“A price?”
“Eat this while you listen. If you resist, the orb will shatter and you’ll be thrown into prison to rot forever, so do something stupid only if that’s what you want.”
Berze handed her Armanie’s orb.
“Persuade the forty-nine master craftsmen we kidnapped along with you.”
There was no need for him to persuade them himself when he had a princess.
Especially a princess who, if disobeyed, would crack skulls first and ask questions later.
“…Fine.”
Louise grimaced at the unpleasant sensation as Armanie’s orb melted and seeped into her, then she nodded.
***
“Demon King.”
“Mm?”
“Are the First Demon Emperor and the sacred code really so… light to you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“There’s what Sir Ernan said, then what you told Logar just now, and now Louise Verft as well.”
Kaede narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t tell me you made promises to me with no meaning behind them…”
“Of course not. You’re my precious knight. I’d never break a promise to my knight.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
“Truly, truly?”
“…Would you like some chocolate?”
“…Thank you.”
Sweet chocolate entered Kaede’s mouth. Her mood improved.
“…I’ll believe you for now.”
“That’s my knight!”