Chapter 114

Defected Dark Healer’s Rise to Wealth

～【Side: Throne Room】～

As Kiwi Alaya  left the throne room,

—”Your Majesty, was it truly alright to give such vague instructions?”

Turning back toward Demon King Lumac, her long, velvet-blue hair swaying, was Emeralda.

—”As Your Majesty has stated, the medical corps led by Kiwi is the most skilled in the Demon Nation. Leaving them idle on the eve of the final battle seems…”

—”No, they are not being left idle. I have merely set aside a necessary trump card for our victory.”

—”A trump card?”

—”Yes. A time-delayed Joker, one even I cannot predict the timing of. Besides,”

Narrowing his eyes as if trying to peer through the depths of a dark forest, Lumac continued.

—”For this battle… I want to avoid merely making solid preparations.”

—”Are you saying that a straightforward orthodox strategy won’t be enough?”

—”Indeed. Orthodox tactics alone will absolutely not suffice.”

As if deep in thought, Lumac tapped his folded arms with his fingers.

—”Kiwi, if left to his own devices, will act in ways we could never anticipate. He will never move in an orthodox manner. That’s precisely why he has been given independent action—an irregular guerrilla mission.”

—”‘Left to his own devices’—You make it sound as if he were a mad dog.”

—”In practice, his unauthorized actions are nothing short of abnormal.”

With a low chuckle, Lumac continued.

—”Driving out and capturing the zombie horde beneath the Demon King’s Castle, launching a surprise attack on the hero battalion’s rear line during the Elden reclamation, dragging medical cadets onto the battlefield and training them beyond veteran level, and most recently, clashing with the demon capital’s police to take control of an underground organization… Every one of those was a decision made on his own.”

—”To have accomplished so much in such a short time since defecting…”

—”Indeed. When someone moves this freely, it becomes amusing instead. It makes me wonder—what will he do next?”

—”I understand how you feel.”

Emeralda let a small smile grace her lips.

—”That being said, Your Majesty, may I ask why you are so wary of maintaining an orthodox strategy? Why is a conventional approach insufficient?”

—”Hmm.”

At Emeralda’s question, Lumac nodded slowly.

—”The movement of the Kingdom’s army… I sense something beyond mere re-invasion.”

—”You mean a stratagem of some kind?”

—”Yes. Their re-invasion of Elden… Without the hero battalion, they have no way to overcome Agito. Wouldn’t you agree?”

—”…Then, as suspected, we should assume that Hero Ares is still alive, despite his body not being recovered after the last battle? That said, most of the hero battalion was annihilated. Both the warriors and the saintess’s bodies were confirmed. It seems too soon for them to have reorganized.”

—”Or perhaps they simply want us to believe that the hero battalion is fully reassembled.”

Placing a hand to her cheek, Emeralda tilted her head, deep in thought.

—”…Wouldn’t they usually try to keep such information hidden?”

Standing upright, she suddenly extended a sleek black wing from behind her long blue hair. In its tip, she deftly held out a small pouch containing a pound cake.

—”In the same way, a concealed ‘revived hero battalion’ could be used as a trump card for a surprise attack. Here, have some cake for a break.”

—”Indeed. That makes sense. And I appreciate the cake. I’ll partake.”

Unwrapping the package, Lumac took a bite of the sweet treat and continued speaking.

—”However, the Kingdom knows we were unable to retrieve the hero’s body. Meaning, they can predict that we suspect their battalion’s revival and that we will form a counterstrategy accordingly.”

—”If they anticipate our expectations, then—”

A sudden realization flashed in Emeralda’s eyes.

—”Could it be that the Kingdom wants us to believe that reinvading Elden means the hero battalion is stationed there?”

—”Exactly. If that assumption holds, then the Elden re-invasion is a diversion. The Kingdom’s main force—including the hero battalion—must be concentrated on the western Elven front.”

—”If the hero battalion were to appear there instead of Elden…”

—”With Agito’s forces deployed in Elden, Urklow  and the others would struggle to hold the western front against the elves. But… this is all still just hypothetical.”

—”There is also the possibility that Elden truly is where the elves and the hero battalion have gathered.”

—”Precisely. That’s why I needed a keen-nosed mad dog to act freely.”

—”…Kiwi Alaya .”

At Emeralda’s murmur, Lumac nodded deeply.

—”This next battle will decide the fate of three nations—the Kingdom, the Western Elven States, and our Demon Nation. Therefore—”

The magic surging from Lumac’s body appeared unchanged, yet the pressure in the air was unmistakably different. The space around him seemed to warp, an illusion of the sheer force he contained.

Like red-hot steel hidden within cold iron, an unshaken determination and fighting spirit pulsed within him.

—”We cannot afford to be caught off guard. We must counter every possible move, through both our strategy and Kiwi’s independent actions.”

—”A wise decision.”

—”…Hah. Whether this will lead to fortune or disaster, we’ll see. But I have high hopes for Kiwi. He will undoubtedly create chaos—unorthodox and unpredictable—confounding both enemy and ally alike.”

Settling back into his throne, Lumac placed the origami crane he had absentmindedly folded from the cake’s wrapper onto the armrest. Then, as if suddenly recalling something, he turned to Emeralda.

—”Kiwi’s wanted posters are circulating, aren’t they? Under the alias Mask the Melon.”

—”Yes. Should we retrieve them?”

—”No, that would be too obvious and attract Gun-Ken’s attention.”

—”Then, how shall we proceed? There are a few discreet ways to erase the posters, but they would take time.”

—”No. Instead, ensure that they are mass-produced.”

—”…What?”

Emeralda’s deep blue eyes widened as she tried to grasp the unseen scheme in the void before her.

After a pause—

—”…I see. That is your plan, then.”

Her eyes gleamed with newfound certainty.

—”By reinforcing the public’s association between Mask the Melon and the criminal underworld while Kiwi is away from Delmond, you intend to dilute the inconvenient connection between Kiwi and Mask the Melon. Is that correct?”

—”Exactly. The infamous Mask the Melon of the underworld may prove useful in the future—for the Demon Nation and for Kiwi himself. Simply erasing the name would be a waste.”

—”Understood, Your Majesty.”

Their laughter—low and dark, like echoes from the depths of the abyss—reverberated through the throne room before fading into silence.