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Chapter 479: Kindness and Goodwill

I asked the Demon Lord’s Army headquarters! What do you think of Enma?

– Demon Lord

“Being originally from the Human Race, I can’t shake my doubts. However, having slaughtered numerous humans and with the Holy Church as a common enemy, I permit them to join. As a result, they have proven to be capable, supplying various labor and military power to the Demon Lord Kingdom. There are elements that seem suspicious, but it might just be my preconceptions, so I’ve decided to evaluate them solely on results. While there are thoughts about their necromancy meddling with the domain of the dark gods, death, there’s no sign of divine punishment so far. Zilbagias is also studying necromancy, so I’m cautiously optimistic in that regard. If there’s no treachery, I believe we can continue to accept Enma and their kind as citizens of the Demon Lord Kingdom. Should they rebel, I’ll burn their underground base to ashes with my flames.”

– Vampire Duke

“The moment you attempt to obliterate our staple food: the humans, we cannot coexist. Your attitude of looking down on us is more pungent than the stench of death. It seems you’re foolishly trying to overcome sunlight; I just wish you would disappear after failing your experiments.”

– Night Elf King

“They are toying with the sacred laws of death. Why did the first Demon Lord Majesty choose such a scoundrel as an ally? I suspect divine punishment will come in two or three hundred years. I want them to vanish before I get caught up in it.”

– Dark Dragon King

“They’re not just watching the dragon caves; they’re a disgusting parasite sucking up magical energy from the dragon veins. When the time comes to rebel against the Demon Lord, defending the dragon cave’s eggs from the undead is a challenge. Once the dragon cave is reclaimed, let the breaths of the Red Dragons incinerate them.”

– Beastman King

“Something feels off about them. Simply put, it’s insane to kill so many of their own kind. That makes me uneasy. You can’t just beat them to death.”

– Demon Legion Commander

“I can’t trust them. Indeed, they’ve proven to be ‘humanity’s enemy’ by committing large-scale massacres, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are our allies. For now, they’re cooperative, handling most of the logistics and silently supporting the gluttonous Demon Lord Army, but we should be wary that the army’s stomach is in the undead’s hands. They kill their same kin without hesitation; how can we trust they won’t harm us, a different race? …However, it’s true that the Demon Lord Army can’t function without the undead. I believe that with the exceedingly powerful fire mage, His Majesty Goldgias, it shouldn’t be too reckless. Conversely, if the next Demon Lord lacks fire attributes, we can’t predict what might happen. Therefore, I endorse Ruby for the next Demon Lord. If Enma were to rebel, I want to lead the suppression of the rebellion. I would like to be the first to attack their so-called underground palace. I can only wonder how impenetrable that stronghold truly is—just thinking about it makes my heart race.”

—

(…Huh, why is everyone frozen like this?)

Inside, Enma tilted her head. She had only expressed her desire to assist with the Night Elf’s retreat, yet a strange atmosphere had descended upon the meeting.

“…What’s with this sudden shift in mood?”

The Night Elf King, wearing an ambiguous smile that bordered on expressionless, inquired.

“It’s simply that I want to help as many agents return as possible, so if there’s anything I can do to assist, I’d like to offer my help.”

Enma responded while maintaining her polite smile. This expression was what she considered her standard ‘polite smile #1,’ which felt close to her normal face without any special meanings attached to the grin.

“Oh? So it’s purely out of pure goodwill, then. That’s quite surprising, as I didn’t expect such kindness directed at us Night Elves. I thought it would be the other way around.”

“Really? Isn’t it just that you guys hate us on your own?”

As Enma transitioned to her ‘polite smile #2’ in response to the Night Elf King’s somewhat sarcastic words, the Night Elf King twitched at the corners of his eyes.

This statement had no ulterior motive. Enma genuinely didn’t care whether the undead were liked or disliked by the Night Elves; she was merely trying to cooperate.

She wasn’t mocking them by saying, “I don’t care about your likes or dislikes! Are you overthinking it? You’re not even on my radar!” The interpretation of her words was entirely up to them.

Switching to ‘polite smile #4,’ she flashed a smile at the Night Elf King before returning to ‘polite smile #1.’ She felt it was necessary to change her expression so she wouldn’t seem overly puppet-like if she kept the same face for too long.

…While she habitually changed her expressions with every statement, it was a mere mechanical rotation of the set expressions, something she hadn’t considered about how it might be perceived by others.

“Also… we’d like information from the allied territories. I’d like to know what I can about Prince Zilbagias’s whereabouts as well.”

When Enma added this, the Night Elf King seemed a bit intrigued, with a “Oh?” expression.

— Just what in the world is Zil-chan up to these days? If there are any leads, I’d like to know.

To be blunt, this was the only reason Enma had put herself forward.

Ever since Zilbagias had been exiled, Enma had been operating her Zilbagias Calling Device, calling him 22 times per second (she had initially started with 20 per second but improved it), but there had been no response.

Even if she figured out Prince Zilbagias’s current location and circumstances, there wasn’t much she could do about it. If he died, she could just summon him again, so there wasn’t a pressing need to know.

Yet, it was human nature to want to know something if it was within reach.

(It wouldn’t hurt to gather some living information once in a while.)

If the agents returned home, there might be fresh details coming in. She held such expectations.

— Wasn’t it enough to summon the souls of deceased Night Elf spies if information was what she wanted without going this far to assist with the retreat?

If Claire were here, there would have likely been such a retort.

(Of course, I’m also doing that.)

But Enma had no gaps in her plan. The moment the “Prince Exile” flyers started circulating, Enma sensed a large number of Night Elves dying and activated her new Summoning Device intended for “Night Elves who died in the Allied Territories.”

(Sadly, this doesn’t look too promising either. The response rate is dismal, and even when I can summon them, their souls are in such a state that I can’t get any useful information…)

There were several possible reasons for this.

Firstly, it was possible that their souls had been burned with holy attributes since they were hunted down by the Holy Church.

The type of souls that cannot be summoned through necromancy is often this one. Since the Night Elf spies disguised themselves as humans, most of them were sufficiently weak in magical power, which is another critical reason.

Next, it might take too long to summon them due to insufficient output from the summoning device, which would further deteriorate their souls along the way.

— As a baseline, the summoning device has, when compared to a high-ranked spellcaster like Enma, extremely weak powers.

This is because the core of the summoning device is an automated lower undead with feeble will. The strength of a curse is proportional to the will of the caster and the necromantic bond between the caster and target.

For example, the power Enma has to summon Zilbagias’s soul is extraordinarily strong because she possesses a resilient will and ferocious attachment. (Which means, the stronger her desire to meet Zil-chan, the stronger the summon.)

(The number of individuals on the continent who wish to meet Zilbagias more than Enma is few and far between.)

But what about the dedicated summoning device for Zilbagias? Unfortunately, no matter how hard it tries, it defaults to only a fraction of Enma’s summoning power. The core of the device, the lower undead specifically optimized to continue summoning Zilbagias 22 times per second, lacks any self-awareness to desire a meeting with Zilbagias, which weakens its summoning power.

The fact that they can pinpoint “Zilbagias = Reiju” as the target and have catalysts like his hair in hand, and that Enma (who has established friendship with Zilbagias) is the one giving the commands, is how the “Zilbagias Summoning Device” can somewhat compensate for its weakness.

(Also, Zil-chan is a strong magic user, and considering he has a grasp of basic necromancy, he shouldn’t have his soul easily broken unless it’s attacked with a significant holy attributes…)

Enma reasoned that unless he was incinerated by high elves or heroes from the human race, Zil-chan should be able to rise as an undead somehow. That was her optimistic outlook.

— So, what about the “Summoning Device for Night Elves who died in the Allied Territories”?

It would undoubtedly be even weaker. The target is ambiguous and there are no catalysts; the summoned subjects are weak in magic power and have fragile souls.

And if the summoning power is weak, the time it takes to pull a soul from the spirit world becomes longer, causing the weak spirit to deteriorate further.

As a countermeasure, a caster like Enma might continuously use spells targeting “Night Elves who died in the Allied Territories” without the summoning device, but—

(Sorry, but I’m not that free, you know?)

Even though she’s attending meetings, she has plenty of things to do, so she couldn’t dedicate herself to a 24-hour spell. Given how she’s leaving even her precious Zil-chan to the summoning device says a lot.

Enma could also ask her capable subordinate, another necromancer, but those busy folks have their own commitments…

“I see. So it was for information after all.”

On the other hand, the Night Elf King seemed somewhat satisfied, nodding thoughtfully. If it were pure goodwill without expectations of return, that’s creepy, but if there’s even a slight gain for Enma, he could understand.

“If you’d like, I can also summon the souls of those who died in the Allied territories. If you’re lucky, you might even receive final messages from them. Identifying individual names would make it easier.”

Enma offered this out of genuine kindness, hoping for a bit of luck.

“Wh…”

Stunned, the Night Elf King widened his eyes, and the next moment, his pale cheeks flushed with anger.

“—Are you mocking us!? Are you ridiculing our faith!!”

With a tight grip on the round table, the Night Elf King displayed emotion—a rarity from the normally stone-faced Night Elves towards other races aside from the Forest Elves.

(Ah, yes, of course.)

Here it comes, Enma sighed internally while still maintaining her polite smile.

— The Night Elves, especially the older generation, despise necromancy.

For them, the souls of prey are all offerings to the dark gods, and meddling with the spirits of the dead is an affront to those deities.

When Enma debuted in the Demon Lord Kingdom, it was the Night Elves—specifically this very Night Elf King, Omenissa—who resisted until the last moment. They had obstructed the introduction of skeletons for menial work, and simply put, had been an obstacle all around.

Yet, it had all been suppressed and popularized by overwhelming convenience.

“I was just joking, just joking. I don’t intend to deny your faith.”

Unfazed by the Night Elf King’s wrath, Enma spoke calmly.

(Such is the nature of the Night Elves.)

— In fact, there had been times when Enma successfully summoned relatively intact spies.

However, communication faltered. The summoned individual exhibited a strong aversion to Enma and necromancy, rendering conversation pointless.

(What a fool.)

Underneath her polite smile, Enma scoffed.

(Do the dark gods not allow it? It’s blasphemy against the gods? Then why does necromancy activate with dark magic?)

She lightly snorted.

(—The gods don’t even look our way.)

Enma was faithless.

She did not deny the existence of the gods. As the Forest Elves said, surely the gods created this world, and they exist.

However, she was negative towards the notion that the gods were watching over this land and them.

(If the dark gods were alive, it would be reasonable for me to be punished for toying with death. If the light gods were alive, it would be strange to let beings like me, or the Demon Lord Army act freely.)

— And about the light gods.

No matter how much Enma prayed or wished.

Not even a single word of comfort or saving grace came her way.

(What’s different from truly nonexistent?)

(Then, I’ll do as I please.)

I’ll show the gods a real spectacle.

I’ll destroy the order of this world from the very roots.

And create—on this land—

A true utopia. The underworld.

(I’ll free everyone from this ridiculous cycle of reincarnation.)

Still wearing her polite smile, Enma surveyed the folks in the meeting room.

(Well, excluding the vampires, who can’t sustain their existence without life, and the demons, who aren’t residents of this world.)

Vampires—while using the term “death” for convenience—disintegrate completely when they die, making resurrection as undead impossible. They were destined to disappear.

As for demons, their very nature is dubious when it comes to being called life, so they don’t count. If they don’t interfere with Enma and her kind, that’s fine by her.

(Anyways, with our current state, we still lack strength.)

I must elevate my status within the Demon Lord Kingdom as a stepping stone to realize the dream.

“I repeat, I was deeply impressed by what you just said, Your Majesty.”

Enma clasped her hands on the round table as she spoke.

“When the contributors of the Demon Kingdom are in distress, those with the ability and qualifications should extend a helping hand, right? We always wish to be good neighbors who can work together with the people of the Demon Kingdom.”

— Those were truly heartfelt words.

However, the end or direction it leads to is just a little different from what others might imagine.

Finishing her sentence, Enma glanced briefly at the Dark Dragon King Orphen.

(Well, whatever I do, it really depends on how the dragon race reacts…)

She was contemplating this when—

(That parasite… what a blatant jab!!)

Orphen was furious.

Earlier, when Orphen was told by the Demon Lord, “If you say you don’t care about the other races, then I’ll consider you all as such,” he interpreted it as, “We undead are not like the dragon race!” and made that pitch.

“Don’t underestimate us!”

With a bang, he struck the round table.

“Even without your help, our dragon race can adequately support the Night Elf’s retreat!”

As a result, what came forth was a stubborn and awkward yet somehow caring remark typical of an uncle.

†††

Eventually, the dragon race successfully supported the retreating Night Elf spies.

Due to the nature of this mission being a rare humanitarian (or so?) collaboration with another race, it was decided that payment would be inappropriate, leading to a division whereby the Night Elves and the Izanis tribe (the origin of the matter) would agree to gift jewelry to the dragons.

Additionally, to facilitate the local spies’ movements and divert the Holy Church and Allied Army’s eyes, the offensive at the front lines was intensified.

Enma and her undead, along with the Vlad group of vampires, played a significant role in this.

When Enma proposed a strategy to direct an army of lower undead towards the Allies to draw attention, Vlad countered with a suggestion for distraction using the vampire race.

Both proposals were adopted based on the insight from the “Devils of Invasion” and the vampires were then positioned at the northern front, where a number of abandoned tunnels by the dwarves existed.

During the day, they could hide deep underground, minimizing threats. And, as this was a magic lord-sanctioned operation exclusive to vampires, it became an exceptional opportunity for a rise in status.

Moreover, the locals provided an unlimited source of blood.Perhaps Vlad and his faction benefited the most.

Thanks to the cooperation (or?) of all involved races, the withdrawal of the few remaining spies was executed safely.

The hard-earned information they gathered also made its way back to the Demon Kingdom—

“Prince Zilbagias has launched an attack against the Kaizaan Empire, defeating the Emperor.”

Among the news that shocked the parties involved, this particular report took everyone by surprise.

 

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