Chapter 3:

Maintaining the Status Quo

The Demon Lord Shouldn’t Be At This Much Of A Disadvantage!!: What do you mean the descendants of the Heroes are overpowered due to nepotism?

“I’ll check our surroundings for those golems that scampered off when we arrived,” Lylia said as she strutted away from Inessa. “Whatever you do with little Geist there before I get back is none of my business. But we will have to fulfill our obligation when I get back.” She added, unwilling to compromise any further.

“W-Wait! Leave them alone! They did do any– whoa!!” Hearing that the small collections of sentient rocks were in trouble, the shrunken König Geistdunkelrustung forgot about his own powerlessness and immediately moved to protect them. However, he was just as quickly stopped as something pressed into his back and forced him to the ground. Looking back, he saw that Inessa had pinned him with her index finger, her holy sword sheathed behind her back. “Hey! Let me go! Do what you want with me, but leave the golems alone.”

The brunette’s face softened as she cast a pitiful smile down at him. “Sorry, Geisty, but that’s not how things work here.” She said, her tone light and understanding. “The Pure and the Corrupted are mortal enemies. Your kind torments, kills, and even feeds on us. Even those little golems pose a threat to the people trying to live a peaceful life.” There was no hate or malice in her voice, no bias twisting her logic. She spoke a truth that he didn’t know, couldn’t know. A truth that she had lived and experienced. “Is there any way I can convince you to not resurrect after this? To end the line of Demon Monarchs terrorizing the world? Nacht had been around since before I became Champion, so he wouldn’t listen to me. He kept insisting that he’d rule the Corrupted, so Lia and I stopped him. But you shouldn’t have any attachment here, right? I know it must seem so unfair to you, but this will only happen again if you come back.”

Releasing him from under her finger, Inessa drew her sword, though she didn’t point it at him aggressively. Instead, she held it out for him to see.

“I heard that, millennia ago, the Goddess Lini recognized the efforts of the Champions of the past, and gifted them with a Divine Artifact to help them defeat the Corrupted.” She continued, though the words she spoke didn’t originate from her. Like someone summarizing the plot of a piece of fiction or recounting historical facts, her tone indicated that it wasn’t a subject she had been overly interested in either. “The balance finally tipped long, long ago, when the Demon Monarch Chrysaor’s dark ambitions were foiled. With his dying breath, he cursed the Champion’s party, who stopped him and slaughtered all of the demons and monsters that served under him. Since then, the rate at which Dark Magic has been able to Corrupt people, animals, plants, and even the very land itself has diminished greatly. Only the Demon Monarch, who can resurrect after some time, has been the only constant that remains.” Her clinical, academically detached tone fading, Inessa took a breath and looked at him with a sincere, sad smile. “You have no army, and you can’t beat us, Geisty. Every time you resurrect, you will die. Is there any way you could just… stay dead?”

Her soft voice was free of malice or hate. While laced with the type of condescension that came from a position of superiority and assurance that she was in no danger, regardless of how he acted, Inessa was genuinely advocating for his own good. It was as comforting as a cat explaining to a mouse why it was going to eat it.

“O-Okay, I think I get why you believe you need to kill me. But, I-I’m not dangerous, and I don’t want to hurt anyone. Is there no way we could coexist?” He asked finally, trying to be diplomatic. “Isn’t all of this natural? How do you know killing all of the ‘Corrupted’, as you call them, won’t or isn’t having a detrimental effect on the world? If Demon Lords keep appearing and reappearing despite all your efforts, doesn’t that mean we have a right to exist?”

[Dark Magic Corruption: 11/100]

While his question was genuine, König Geistdunkelrustung wasn’t without ulterior motive as he monitored the represented value of his Dark Magic Corruption slowly increase. The sensation of power flowing into him from the ground and air around them was invigorating, but slow.

[Dark Magic Corruption: 13/100]

Holding her chin as she looked to the sky in contemplation, Inessa’s strain to consider the possibility was evident. She had gone along with what she had been told, but had her reservations about killing living creatures, let alone sentient ones. “I don’t kn–”

[Dark Magic Corruption: 16/100]

“No.” Cutting her off with a definitive rejection, Lylia returned, lightly tossing a silvery-blue sliver of a crystalline substance in her hand as she approached. “All the Corrupted are good for are their special materials and Mana Crystals. It’s impossible for us to coexist.” She added, stopping in front of Inessa and purposely crushing the shrunken greater demon under her feet. “Only one of the golems had a Mana Crystal this time, and I’m not sensing any others.

As she reported her findings to the brunette, König Geistdunkelrustung reformed from the shadowy flames that escaped from under her sole. Even without the ability to feel pain, the added force of the impact as she stomped down on him was impossible to miss, as was the disdain in her eye as she glared at him. She r-really did? To those cute little piles of rocks…?

[Schattenrustung effect: Cast Reanimate, activated]
[Dark Magic Corruption: 6/100]

“Seriously? How many more times are you going to revive like that?” The blonde asked, her annoyance beginning to outweigh her hatred as she raised her foot once more.

This is it… I don’t have enough energy to revive again. He thought, but scrambled to get to his feet nonetheless.

“Just die already and leave a Mana Crystal behind, you annoyance. Your predecessor had the consideration to not have more than three lives.” As she went to slam her foot down, though, a golden blade radiating a faint light imposed itself between the descending sole and the helpless armored being. “Essa! What do you think you’re doing!?” She asked, more confused than angry at the near-treasonous action as she pulled her foot back.

“I-I’m sorry, Lia, b-but can’t we just let Geisty go this once?” The brunette asked, unable to maintain eye contact. “I mean, h-he hasn’t done anything yet, and it doesn’t sound like he wants to hurt anyone. A-At least, I’ve never seen someone who turned into a demon talk about co-existence. M-Maybe Geisty is different.” Stumbling over her words quickly to clarify her actions, Inessa’s kindness and open-mindedness were two of her three core traits, according to Lylia.

And as the initial shock of seeing her friend, the Champion of Facide, defend the Demon Monarch, wore off, the blonde couldn’t see the action as out of character for her either. Smiling gently, she shifted her weight to one side and shook her head, trying to be understanding and push past her own prejudice. “Sorry, Essa, but that’s just not how things work. We need to bring back proof of his death: his Mana Crystal.”

[Dark Magic Corruption: 9/100]

Despite the conversation between the two girls, the shrunken greater demon could feel that neither had turned their attention away from him. Inessa may have been advocating sparing his life, but he was still very much a helpless prey animal caught between two predators. One wrong move and he would be met with a swift death, likely under a heeled foot than a glowing, holy blade, but a death all the same.

Come on. It’s going up a bit faster now, for some reason. Watching the value of his Dark Magic Corruption creep ever closer to the threshold for another revival, even if it was only for a moment longer, meant he could survive another attack.

“Besides. Do you really want him walking around knowing your measurements?” Trying to lighten the mood a bit, Lylia shifted the subject so that Inessa wouldn’t feel too bad about them fulfilling their duty.

Huh? What’s that mean? König Geistdunkelrustung wondered, looking at the playful smile on the blonde’s lips. A smile that failed to mask the mischief she was orchestrating.

“Huh? What’s that mean?” Inessa asked, unintentionally asking König Geistdunkelrustung’s unvoiced question at the same time he thought it.

“Not all of the Demon Monarchs’ spells have been sealed away, just the harmful ones. Spells of the Legendary rank don’t require an incantation either, so he could have cast Research on us without our permission.” As she explained herself, Lylia wrapped her arms around her feminine assets, though with none of the embarrassment of one trying to defend their modesty. “And that spell reveals all the information Seepu has recorded about the targets.”

Snapping her full attention onto the tiny Demon Monarch, Inessa’s blushing face was a mix of panic and embarrassment. “I-Is that true, Geisty?”

Unaccustomed to how all of his abilities functioned, König Geistdunkelrustung’s thoughts uncontrollably and unconsciously drifted to the stat blocks that were still hovering around the two girls.

Lylia [Advanced] | Race: Human | Level: 10
Hit Points: 305/305 | Mana: 732/732 | Stamina: 160/160
[Additional Information]

He had ignored the “Additional Information” option before, but with his current thought process and curiously working faster than he could stop it, he focused on Inessa’s.

And, seeing an option to reveal even more information, he reflexively selected it. The whole process took less than a breath to complete, before his conscious thoughts and rational logic could stop his instinctive curiosity. Instigated by a calculating woman who understood the conventions of the world he had been sent to better than he did.

[Dark Magic Corruption: 12/100]

As the personal information of the brunette was displayed to him, he glanced at Lylia, whose smile had widened slightly, and her eye narrowed in amusement at what she set into motion.

“Ah…” It was too late. He had seen too much and recognized that fact in an instant. The same instant that Inessa had registered his unspoken admission to Lylia’s accusation. “N-No! Inessa, it’s not what you–!”

The same instant she used the tip of her sword to toss him into the air, her face beet red and eyes slammed tight from the shame and humiliation. “Geisty, you creep! U-Use: Storm of Blades!” She shrieked, her sword arm moving in a blur of motion that, with eerie accuracy and precision, diced up the shrunken, invasive Demon Monarch into even smaller pieces.

Well… Damnit. At least I was able to… As he was suspended in the air, finely minced to pieces, König Geistdunkelrustung looked at his Dark Magic Corruption value.

[Dark Magic Corruption: 7/100]
[Schattenrustung effect: Cast Reanimate, unable to activate]

The more potent wave of lethargy washing over him prevented panic from overtaking him. Instead, his consciousness slipped towards a comfortable, inviting darkness. That’s… odd… I could have… sworn… He didn’t have the energy to question how he miscalculated. He could only accept the reality as his vision blurred and a large chunk of the slivery-blue crystal substance that Lylia had returned with appeared out of thin air.

“Oh! Now that’s a decent Mana Crystal.” Their voices, distant yet audible, he heard Lylia speaking in a friendly tone laced with enough sarcasm to hear the smug grin on her face. “I guess I can forgive you for resurrecting so quickly this time. Just make sure you don’t come back for at least a month. Essa and I have lives, too. Thanks~!”

“Lia! Don’t be so mean to…” His connection to the land of the living stretched to the limit and broken, Inessa’s apologetic voice was the last thing he heard before being embraced by absolute silence and a comforting, all-consuming darkness.

Resurrect? So… I’m not going to pass on? He wondered, weary from all that had happened to him. While he couldn’t be sure of the actual time scale, from his preceptive, he had died twice in one day. And I’ll eventually go back, just to go through that again? The thought of getting slashed to pieces and/or stomped to death like a bug was unappealing.

But then he thought of the little golems who had greeted him when he arrived. He didn’t know how other monsters and demons acted, or what threat they or he posed to the people of this new world, but he did know one thing.

The ones who don’t want to hurt anyone deserve someone to protect them, just like you said, Nacht. Co-opting the nickname the two women used for the being who sent him to Facide, König Geistdunkelrustung thought about what his predecessor told him. And I’m sorry I couldn’t protect those two…

The Demon Lord Shouldn’t Be At This Much Of A Disadvantage!!: What do you mean the descendants of the Heroes are overpowered due to nepotism?

Author:

Nathan Harding

Maintaining the Status Quo

The Demon Lord Shouldn’t Be At This Much Of A Disadvantage!!: What do you mean the descendants of the Heroes are overpowered due to nepotism?

Readers Who Enjoyed This Also Read

Piracy In Another World: I Will Plunder The System

(Re)born as the Night Witch

Waldina - Journey as a ninja in another world

Please sign in to leave a comment.