Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 377

Eleris didn’t look very pleased. The plan was to create an artificial dungeon, a trap to lure in Cantus Magna, but it would also draw in countless adventurers.

Then again, it wasn’t like we were dragging them into the dungeon by force. Why did we have to worry about those who lost their lives trying to strike a big score? Still, it was strange that I had ultimately agreed to something that would inevitably lead to many deaths.

“If we’re done here, I’ll be going back.”

“Yes.”

Antirianus, Galarsh, and Lruien cast teleportation spells and soon disappeared from the room.

Only Lucinil, Eleris, and I remained in the meeting room.

“What about Radia?” I asked.

“I told her to wait in her room,” Eleris replied.

Staying in such a cold and silent place for too long might drive someone mad. I wondered if she would be okay.

I wasn’t particularly concerned about how Radia was doing, but she did cross my mind whenever I came to this place. It seemed like Eleris was taking good care of her, though. It almost felt like she was being kept like a pet.

Anyway, that wasn’t the issue at hand.

“Alright. Eleris and Lucinil, let’s go somewhere for a bit.”

“Do you have something else to do?” asked the silver-haired kid.

I nodded. “Let’s visit the Demon King’s Castle.”

“The Demon King’s Castle? Oh, come to think of it...” Eleris said.

“Right. There was supposed to be some kind of refuge there,” Lucinil remarked.

“Yes, we’re going to check it out,” I replied.

We needed to find spell books that could help to sell the fake dungeon and make it seem more legitimate. However, I was clueless about magic, so even if there were such spell books available in the library of the bunker beneath the Demon King’s Castle, I wouldn’t be able to recognize them. Even worse, if they contained magic that was already known, I might get scolded for bringing them.

Having two archmage-level Vampire Lords with me would be a great help in uncovering something useful.

***

I had informed Lucinil about the bunker, and she had passed the information on to Eleris, so they were both aware of it. I wasn’t sure if they had informed the other Vampire Lords. In any case, there was no way I could get to the bunker below the Demon King’s Castle alone.

There were still troops garrisoned there, and since I couldn’t use magic, I couldn’t sneak down to the sixth underground floor where the labyrinth was.

However, with Lucinil and Eleris accompanying me, it was a different story. We arrived at the outskirts of the Demon King’s Castle by teleporting several times in succession instead of using warp gates.

“It’s huge,” Lucinil said, her mouth agape at the imposing walls of the Demon King’s Castle, visible even from a distance. In the end, though, the castle that had still ultimately fallen.

“Let’s go,” I said.

We moved towards the Demon King’s Castle, taking care to avoid being noticed by the garrisoned troops by using spells like invisibility and noise suppression.

“We don’t necessarily need to retrieve any dangerous magic. We don’t need magic to set traps or barriers within the dungeon. Magic tomes that Cantus Magna might covet, ones that aren’t too dangerous but could serve as bait, would be fine,” I explained.

“Got it.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The Black Order would also be providing their own bait, but there was no reason for us not to do the same. Whatever the true purpose of the Black Order, we were allies until we found Cantus Magna and Akasha.

We would have to consider what would come after, but for the moment, Akasha was the priority.

If I were someone who walked the path of magic, I might think twice about scattering such precious tomes about carelessly, but ultimately, I was a layman when it came to magic.

I knew they were valuable, but I didn’t feel they were too precious to use. However, we couldn’t take too many books. If the shelves were left empty, Charlotte might notice the missing books later on. Of course, even if she did notice, she wouldn’t necessarily be able to find out that I was the one who had taken them.

The garrison, of course, didn’t notice us, and since I knew the way, I led the group. The interior of the Demon King’s Castle was vast, so it took us quite a while to navigate it.

The garrison had completed their exploration of almost every part except the labyrinth. The commander had given up on searching the labyrinth, and Charlotte hadn’t pressed the issue. The garrison would soon withdraw, claiming they found nothing else of value.

Eleris observed the Demon King’s Castle with a sad expression. She hated war, yet she was the only one on the Council who had sworn loyalty to the Demon King, became a spy in the capital, and had now returned to the Demon King’s Castle. I couldn’t tell what Eleris was thinking.

“We need to go to the fifth underground floor,” I said. I knew where the entrance to the labyrinth was.

We moved forward purposefully.

“No need for invisibility. There’s no one here,” Lucinil remarked, sounding incredulous.

Of course, we still didn’t deactivate our invisibility and noise-canceling spells.

It seemed that because Charlotte hadn’t pressed the issue, Count Alfreid, the commander, felt he had been given an indulgence. As a result, exploration of the castle had come to a complete stop.

The troops of the garrison were merely loitering around the Demon King’s Castle, waiting for the order to withdraw.

We soon descended to the fifth underground floor below the Demon King’s Castle and reached the entrance to the labyrinth.

“It’s not that big,” Lucinil commented.

“That’s how secret entrances usually are, isn’t it?” I replied.

“So there is a place like this...” Eleris murmured.

“It’s called a labyrinth, but it seems the true path only opens for an Archdemon,” I explained.

The last time, it wasn’t clear whether the path had opened for Charlotte or for me. However, unless accompanied by an Archdemon, this passage would lead whoever entered it to the labyrinth.

Fortunately, even though I maintained Reinhart’s appearance, the passage still led me to the true exit.

After descending partway down the spiral staircase, we saw a door at the end of a long, straight corridor. That was confirmation enough. Regardless of my appearance, I would still be shown the correct path.

But what if Charlotte came alone? That part was still uncertain.

Eleris and Lucinil followed me.

Click.

I opened the door, and we entered the space I had previously reached with Charlotte and Sabioleen Tana.

“Wow, what is all this?” Lucinil exclaimed, her eyes wide as she looked around the vast chamber.

Eleris was also taken aback as she looked around the chamber and the passages and rooms within it.

“I never knew such a place existed beneath the Demon King’s Castle...?” Eleris muttered, sounding slightly stunned.

There were bedrooms, a kitchen with supplies, alchemical reagents, and even a library.

Lucinil and Eleris were astonished as they explored the bunker.

“Indeed. It seems to have been constructed to serve as a refuge... a place only accessible to an Archdemon,” Lucinil noted.

If I hadn’t lost my memory, this was the place I would have gone to.

The impact of Baalier’s survival within the original story was still a troubling issue.

“Enough with the admiration. Let’s start looking through the magic tomes,” I said.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Eleris replied.

“You said we need magic tomes that aren’t too dangerous but would be coveted by Cantus Magna, or ones related to traps or barriers that could be useful for the dungeon, right?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

Lucinil seemed to mull over the criteria I had set before she and Eleris entered the library to start examining the books. Not wanting to just stand around, I began to browse the shelves as well.

“Wow... there’s a lot here,” Lucinil remarked.

“Indeed,” Eleris agreed.

Honestly, this library did not comprise just a few bookshelves. While it wasn’t a massive library, it still had enough books to rival a decent-sized one.

I wondered if all these were magic tomes, but as I looked around, I found books that were not just for mages. There were also books on swordsmanship and weaponry.

“Hey, Archdemon,” Lucinil called out from between the shelves.

“Yes, what’s up?”

“‘What’s up?’ That’s informal,” she chided.

“Yes, yes, my bad. What is it?” I corrected myself.

“Why you little... Anyway, you said you didn’t know this place existed because you lost your memory, right?”

“Yes.”

Lucinil seemed to be pondering something, her cheeks puffed out as she thought, visible through the gap between the shelves.

“So if you hadn’t lost your memory, you would have come here?”

“I suppose so.”

“Hmm...” Lucinil tilted her head.

“Couldn’t the previous Demon King have survived if he had fled here?”

“It’s possible.”

This place was meant for Baalier Junior, not the previous Demon King, Baalier. He had chosen to stay in the Demon King’s Castle and fight Ragan Artorius instead of fleeing to the labyrinth.

It would have been unthinkable for a ruler to flee when the Allied Forces reached the gates of the Demon King’s Castle. Lucinil nodded, seeing the logic behind his choice.

“Either way, this place didn’t serve its purpose, since you didn’t show up.”

Since I assumed the identity of Baalier Junior, this bunker had lost its purpose. It was only after quite some time that I learned of its existence.

Lucinil was browsing the shelves, deep in thought, picking up books, skimming through them, and then either putting them back or levitating them beside her with telekinesis.

Eleris was also examining the shelves with a thoughtful expression.

I had found a book on soul manipulation here before. I had given it to Charlotte immediately, but I thought it might also be useful for Lucinil.

Since the library was vast, I wondered if there might be another book on soul manipulation that I hadn’t found earlier on. If this were a real library, there would be more than one copy, but this wasn’t really a real library.

I couldn’t find any magic tomes that met the criteria I had set, so I was looking for another book or a copy on soul manipulation that might be useful for Lucinil.

“Hey, Archdemon,” Lucinil called again.

“Why do you keep calling me? And I told you not to call me Archdemon.”

“Baalier, then.”

“What is it?”

Lucinil, with several books floating around her, looked at me from across the bookshelf.

“You can’t even read magic, can you?” Lucinil asked, genuinely curious rather than trying to tease me.

Was she suggesting that I rest instead of wasting my energy combing through the library? Come to think of it, I was a bit curious about what the preserved food in the pantry tasted like.

Anyway, it seemed like I wasn’t going to find the book I was looking for, and my role had been to open the way, not to find the books myself.

Just as I was about to give up, I noticed something.

[Introduction to Soul Manipulation.]

There was a book on the lower shelf, in a spot that wasn’t easily visible. It was the same book I’d found last time, and I could see why there was another copy. It was the same book, but the title was written in a different language.

The title was in the demon language, not the common language. It was the demon language version of the soul manipulation book.

“Lucinil, have you heard of soul manipulation?” I asked.

“Hmm? Soul manipulation?”

I picked up the demon language version of the book and looked at Lucinil.

“Take a look at this,” I said, ready to be thanked by this little old lady.

***

Unfortunately, I didn’t hear any words of gratitude from Lucinil, and it wasn’t because she couldn’t read the demon language version of the book.

“I already know this,” she said after skimming through the introduction.

“... Pardon?”

“Soul manipulation is indeed a forbidden art, but what made you think I wouldn’t know about it after living for so many years?”

Lucinil had wanted a soul, so she had to have researched soul-related magic extensively.

“It’s not a common magic tome by any means, but unfortunately, it’s magic I already know,” Lucinil said, her fingers gently brushing the cover of the soul manipulation book.

Since she knew this magic, it meant that even with soul manipulation, Lucinil couldn’t fulfill her wish.

“I could fuse another’s soul with mine, but since I don’t have a soul myself, I wouldn’t be merging with another being; I’d be absorbed. That’s why I couldn’t attempt it.”

The concept of merging different souls didn’t apply to Lucinil. Ultimately, soul manipulation magic was useless to a being without a soul.

What was a soul, then? I had never thought about it because I assumed I had one. Only Lucinil, who didn’t have one, had desperately researched souls.

Lucinil gave me a faint smile. “So, you were thinking of me, huh? Thanks.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Oh, you’re that kind of person. Got it. Cute.”

Even though it didn’t help, Lucinil seemed grateful that I had thought of her, and she burst into laughter.

‘Why is she being so affectionate?’

Anyway, Lucinil was probably the one who had thought the most about souls. When I’d first found the book on soul manipulation, I thought it might help her, but the reality was quite the opposite.

Lucinil had to be the foremost expert on soul-related magic. Her long search on how to obtain one must have led her to accumulate vast amounts of knowledge through research. She was the person most likely to have a solution to Charlotte’s problem.

“I have something to ask,” I said.

Lucinil nodded, indicating for me to go ahead and ask. She seemed in a good mood. “What is it?”

“If a soul was fused with a part of another soul, could it be returned to its original state? Back to before the fusion?”

Research on soul manipulation was already underway, but Lucinil had already completed all that research. She would know everything about soul manipulation.

If the situation grew urgent, Lucinil might be able to help Charlotte. How to explain it or what method to use could be figured out later.

But...

“Obviously not. Do you really think that’ll work?”

Lucinil’s innocent reply shattered all my expectations.

***

Lucinil didn’t know why I was asking about it, but she’d answered as if it were the most obvious thing, as though wondering why I had even considered it a possibility.

“You could mix two glasses of water into one cup and then pour them back into the two glasses, but they wouldn’t be the same two glasses of water as before, right?”

“... Does it really work like that?”

“It’s a little bit different in practice, but it’s not far off.”

Once two things were fused together to become one, they could not be unfused and returned to their original state.

I recalled Charlotte’s ecstatic expression when I passed her the book on soul manipulation. But if Lucinil’s words were true, then Charlotte wouldn’t be able to achieve her desired result through the research into soul manipulation.

Then what could be done? If Charlotte’s soul had become inseparable from the Demon King’s soul the moment they’d fused, would she have to live in that state forever, waiting for the day the Demon King’s soul would eventually consume her?

“By the way, why are you curious about that?”

‘Should I tell her? That the Demon King’s soul still resides within the princess’s soul?’

Lucinil might know what to do if I told her the truth. I had to be certain if there was a solution.

“The previous Demon King fused a part of his soul with someone else’s soul.”

“... What?”

Lucinil stared at me, her mouth agape, as if she had heard something unbelievable.

“What...? Did he really do that?”

“The circumstances around it make me sure of it,” I said.

“So even after separating a part of his soul and implanting it in someone else... he was fine?”

“That part, I’m not entirely sure...”

I thought what the Demon King had done to Charlotte was horrific, but Lucinil seemed to interpret it differently.

Splitting one’s soul was an insane act, and would be an inherently horrific ordeal to undergo.

“Is it difficult to endure the splitting of one’s soul?” I asked.

“It’s not just difficult; it’s a miracle he didn’t go insane. He probably wouldn’t have maintained his sanity... What kind of person was the previous Demon King?” Lucinil wondered.

I didn’t know if the previous Baalier was insane or not. But considering how the Great War of the Demon Realm had unfolded, he wasn’t completely consumed by madness.

Implanting his soul into Charlotte had been a significant risk, even for the Demon King. That could explain why the Demon King’s soul, which had possessed Charlotte before, seemed to have lost most of its intellect. It hadn’t recognized me and had seemed to be in a state of madness. Perhaps the original Demon King had managed to maintain his sanity, but the part of his soul that merged with Charlotte’s had lost its cognitive ability.

My story seemed to have shocked Lucinil into a daze.

“So, he anticipated losing the Great War and made arrangements to ensure his resurrection...? But whether that’s possible or not...”

Lucinil seemed to think that what the Demon King had attempted was extremely dangerous.

“Anyway, do you want to fully resurrect the Demon King’s soul?” Lucinil asked.

I shook my head. “No. I want to destroy it.”

“...?”

Lucinil stared at me. ‘What kind of ungrateful child are you?’ her expression said.