novelThe Kings That Sit in the Four Heavens
| ← Ch.42 | Ch.44 → |
"『Hmph, so this is the temple of the Evil God or whatever, huh. 』
A new challenger stood at the entrance to the temple. That in and of itself was something that happened every day and wasn't particularly noteworthy, but the challenger this time was different to all the others.
He was a fearless-looking man with short pointed hair, and a large build, but he had characteristic silver hair and red eyes were just like Leonora's... the characteristics of the Demon Race.
The believers in the temple had apparently noticed as well, because unlike with the other challengers, they watched him from afar. Because of their contact with Leonora, the followers had become more or less used to the Demon Race, but as you'd expect, it was different with somebody they'd never seen before.
Name: Ijido
Race: Demon Race
Sex: Male
Age: 31
Job: Mage
Level: 26
Title: None
I checked his status, but he really was a demon after all. And what's more, there was a part of his status that concerned me.
"Aah, so they've finally come, ey."
"Nu... To think that it would be him of all people."
With something at the tip of my mind, I tilted my head in wonder, while Dark God Anbaal and Leonora reacted next to me as they watched the screen. Leaving Dark God Anbaal aside, I was worried about Leonora's unpleasant expression.
"Do you know him?"
"He is one of the Four Heavenly Kings, but he has always been courting me, you see."
So they had them too. The Four Heavenly Kings.
"What kind of people are the Four Heavenly Kings?"
"Mn? You want to know about the Four Heavenly Kings? My father, His Majesty the Demon King has a great many subordinates, but amongst them the most powerful four high-class demons are called the Four Heavenly Kings. Each of the Kings govern a different element; that man──Adamantite Earth Fiend Ijido is 『Earth』, you see."
By the four elements, does she mean earth, water, fire, and wind? Even if she says 'govern', it's not like they're divines, so she probably means that they specialise in magic of that element.
"The others are 『Wind's』 Fierce Gale Knight Renarve, and 『Water's』 Bloodfrost General Vikuto. It seems that this time only Ijido came though..."
"? Isn't that only three?"
Since they're called the Four Heavenly Kings, and she said they governed the four elements, you'd expect there to be four of them, but she only named earth, water, and wind. It's weird that there isn't a 『Fire』.
"No, umm... me..."
"Huh?"
Mii? That's the name of the last King?
"Like I said, the last one is me... The one that governs 『Fire』, Magic Flame Princess Leonora."
Leonora replied in embarrassment. Speaking of which, aside from darkness magic she was good at fire magic too, wasn't she.
The Demon King's daughter is a Heavenly King? It seems abnormal that a member of the royal family is a subordinate though.
"So you were one of the Four Heavenly Kings. From now on I shall call you Magic Flame Princess Leonora."
"I'm begging you, so please don't. It's pretty embarrassing."
Seeing Leonora turn red in embarrassment made me feel like bullying her a little, but if I went too far she might hate me, so I decided to be prudent.
"And so, just how strong is he?"
A while ago I saw that his level was about the same as Leonora's, but I wanted the opinion of somebody who actually knew his strength.
"He is on par with me, but since he's of the earth element, I suppose I should say that he's focused on defence. If we fought one on one, I would probably win. The personality doesn't match, but he is somebody who can show his true worth when paired up with somebody who excels in offence."
Right, when I looked at his status earlier there was something gnawing at me, but I finally know what it was now... His job.
Leonora is a magic boxer, and is an all-purpose type that is fine with both physical combat and magic. Because she was somebody who could play both frontline and backline, she was able to do something as amazing as conquer the dungeon solo.
But in contrast, the man on the screen was a mage... It doesn't suit his second name of Adamantite Earth Fiend or whatever, but if you think about his job alone, then he should be somebody in the backline. Thinking about it normally, it doesn't seem possible for him to solo the dungeon.
I was wondering if he had some secret trump card, but from Leonora's explanation, that didn't seem to be the case either.
"What kind of magic is earth magic?"
"Unlike fire and water magic which 『bring forth』 phenomena, earth and wind magic mostly 『manipulate』 things that already exist. For earth magic, the ground, and for wind, the atmosphere; that sort of thing, I suppose. The primary method of combat for earth magic is cladding the caster in an armour of rocks, creating shields form the ground, and creating golems from earth I suppose."
I see. A magic that displays its power best when fighting on the ground, huh. It seems like a skill that would make the choice of battlefield extremely important. But in that case, there's something that I'm confused about.
"The dungeon is created by bricks, but can you use earth magic on them?"
"It's probably impossible."
"....................."
With Leonora stating so clearly that it was impossible, I didn't know what my next words were supposed to be.
"Supposing they were normal bricks, then I think it would be possible, but the ones in the dungeon are fundamentally indestructible you see. It shouldn't be possible to manipulate using earth magic. If it was a dungeon made from the bare earth then he might be able to make do though."
In other words, doesn't that mean that he's completely useless in this dungeon? He's a mage so he isn't suited for close combat magic, and he can't use anything except his specialty earth magic.
"He is also a demon, so although I haven't seen him use it, he should be able to use darkness magic as well. Only, many of the monsters in this dungeon are undead, so the effect of darkness magic is weak. Well, honestly... isn't it impossible for him?"
He is technically a coworker, but for her to say that so easily... You must really hate him, huh, Leonora. It felt like my face was going to spasm, so I was trying to keep myself expressionless, while I turned to Dark God Anbaal instead.
"Didn't they pick the wrong guy?"
"Ahh? Like I know. All I did was tell the current Demon King to go conquer the dungeon. I didn't say a thing about who to send."
In other words, the Demon King──Leonora's father made this kind of selection? You'd expect him to be able to grasp the ability of his direct subordinates, but why did he do something like sending such an ill-suited person? If the Four Heavenly Kings are equal, then he could have just dispatched one of the members with abilities suited for conquering the dungeon.
Searching for an opinion, I once against turned to Leonora, paying careful attention not to look her in the eyes.
『Shitt, WHY!? WHY ISN'T MY MAGIC WORKING!?』
"Fumu, Esteemed Father's intention, you ask...? Let's see, perhaps he wanted to sacrifice the most useless guy."
I get the feeling that Leonora's remarks are ununsually poisonous today. Just what kind of courting did he do?
But if calling him a sacrifice means that there's something to be gained through this, then I have to wonder. Honestly speaking, it just looks like they don't have any intention of seriously conquering this dungeon but... Wai-, could it be that I was right? If the demons weren't assertively trying to conquer the dungeon, but were instead just acting like they were fulfilling their duties by sending in one of the Four Heavenly Kings, then I can assent to this.
It's true that considering the details of the time that I became a divine, the Demon Race should be quite afraid of me, so it might be natural that they can't quite get into conquering this place. I did half-destroy a mountain after all.
But Leonora... if that's true, then you making that remark here is a big problem, you know.
"So what? That guy decided to ignore my instructions or something?"
"Eh-...!? T-, T-, T-, That would be unthinkable!"
Right - if the demons aren't assertively trying to conquer this dungeon, then they're going against Dark God Anbaal's orders. Hearing his words, and realising this, Leonora immediately turned blue.
"Then what?"
"Eh-, ah-, umm... Right! It's scouting! It may be true that it is impossible for that guy to conquer this place, but he was sent here as a scout in order to raise the chance of victory for the main force sent later on!"
While panicking and wiping her cold sweat, Leonora somehow managed to give an excuse to Dark God Anbaal. I get the feeling that she had so much vigour that it felt less persuasive instead, but she probably doesn't have the composure to think about that right now.
"Well, that's fine then."
I'm not sure if he was just overwhelmed by her vigour, or if he actually bought it, but Dark God Anbaal accepted her words and backed down.
It's unclear what the Demon King was really thinking when he sent Ijido here by himself, but now that she made that sort of declaration to the Dark God, they'll need to invest some real war power into a later force if they want to prove to him that they weren't disobeying.
『GUAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?』
Ah-, the small fry got done in.
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『Hmph, I was just coincidentally on my off-game yesterday. 』
Who on earth is he even making his excuses to?
Ijido who had easily collapsed yesterday, had come the next day to challenge the dungeon again. Normally a fallen challenger takes a while to rest, so I couldn't help but admire his sturdiness.
Also, unlike yesterday when he challenged the dungeon, this time Ijido was accompanied by 10 earthen dolls of about his size. They're probably the golems made from earth magic that Leonora mentioned yesterday.
Certainly, even if you can't use the ground in the dungeon, you can solve the problem by using magic before you enter it. He probably also reflected on his failure yesterday, and came up with some sort of plan.
But still, I didn't expect to see the this feat of controlling 10 golems at once. As expect of one of the Four Heavenly Kings, perhaps I should say. If he can produce golems from the earth without end, then leaving aside when he's inside a dungeon, it's easy to imagine that he's quite a powerful combatant outside.
『Hah! If I can just use my magic, then a dungeon like this is a piece 'a cake. 』
"It's impossible. He might be able to use magic, but his mana won't hold if he continues to use it. At best, he'll just run out of mana on one of the floors and come to a stop."
As usual, Leonora immediately cut him down. Seriously, what the heck did he do? I'm a bit scared to ask, but I really do want to know.
"It seems like you hate him quite a bit, but what kind of courtship was it?"
"'What kind of courtship', huh? He said stuff like 『Be my woman. 』 while looking at me with filthy eyes, and touching me all over the place, you see. I dealt with it, but honestly speaking I was unbearably angry."
Sexual harassment, huh... It's true that I can't think of that fondly either. But still, Leonora is the daughter of the Demon King. He has some guts to do something like that to a member of the royal family. I guess you can call him quite a big-shot in a way.
『Gufu-...』
Ah-, looks like he's already run out of mana. That was unexpectedly fast.
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『It was all just a test up'til now. This time I'm serious. 』
Today, he managed the achievement of challenging the dungeon three times in a row. I don't know whether I should praise him, or whether I should be astounded. He started saying things that sounded like a child's excuse, but honestly, what the heck is giving him all this encouragement?
Also, in exchange for yesterday's golems, this time he had a big sack on his back, and looked like Santa Claus.
I was wondering that on earth he had in there, but the answer to my question was made clear once he encountered some monsters.
『Hah! Eat this!』
Throwing out the contents of his sack, a large amount of earth spread out. And then, after his chant, the earth rose up into a humanoid form. I see. Yesterday his mana wouldn't hold because he was always manipulating the golems, so this time he's going to carry it when he isn't using it? It's a simple idea, but it does seem like he'll be able to maintain his mana this way. It's super simple though. And also uncool though.
"Anri! I need a favour!"
As I was watching Ijido's moving struggle, Leonora threw open the door and entered the room. Livid with anger, it was like anger was coming out from her entire body. And then, when she say Ijido on the screen, that flared even more violently.
Leonora clamped her hands on my shoulders, and without making eye contact, glared strongly at me.
"I need a favour. Smash that guy to the bone."
Owowowow!? Hey-, Leonora, you're gripping me too hard.
"Did something happen?"
It seems that she hated him to begin with, but today was too different than all the other times so far. Wondering what was up, I tried asking Leonora.
"I asked my homeland you see, but apparently if Ijido manages to conquer the dungeon, then Esteemed Father would accept our engagement."
I see. Is that why he's been so abnormally fired up? If not only you could obtain the woman you wanted, but on top of that could obtain the political power from marrying the Demon King's daughter, then I can understand why you would be desperate.
I can only think of the Demon King's statement as something he said with full knowledge that it was impossible, but it seems that in her anger, Leonora lost the ability to judge things calmly.
"As somebody born to the royal family, I have no intention of denying a political marriage. I won't deny it, but even so, what I hate I hate, and I can't imagine that marrying that guy will benefit the country. So please, stop that guy."
Putting even more power into the hands on my shoulders, I heard creaking noises. I wouldn't be able to bear with my shoulders being broken like this, so I nodded again and again in panic until I somehow got her to release me.
Even if I left him alone, I don't think that he'd be able to conquer the dungeon, but I need to do something to make Leonora accept it as well. Steeling my heart, I took out a single book of scriptures, and teleported it in front of him.
『Mn? The heck is this?』
Namu.
Wind: "Ijido fell, huh."
Water: "Hmph... He was the weakest amongst all four of us."
Fire: "Not even making it as far as the boss is a shame to we demons...
Or rather, he isn't dead, you know. He's just worried about his bald patch, and hiding away somewhere.
Personally, I would be grateful if he stayed there forever, though."
| ← Ch. 42 | Ch. 44 → |