<CHAPTER 76>
The Demon King Gets Conscripted for the Demon Realm Invasion
“Rek.”
“Yes, Ehilie.”
“……What is that?”
“It is Ehilie’s house.”
As if she didn’t know it was a house!
Ehilie looked up blankly at the building before her eyes.
Certainly, until yesterday there had been a small, modest one-story cottage in that place.
What stood there now was a two-story mansion wearing the guise of a cottage.
“A house isn’t something that…… gets built overnight.”
“Ehilie. Have you forgotten? What kind of person your husband is.”
What kind of person indeed.
Ehilie finally remembered.
That Rek was an enormous rich man who used expensive teleportation stones as if they were nothing.
‘Yes, he said there’s nothing money can’t do in this world! And that if there is something it can’t do, one should wonder if it’s not because there isn’t enough money.’
But even so, this was somehow strange.
Was it possible for a cottage to upgrade to a mansion overnight, as if this were some game?
“Please come inside.”
Rek guided Ehilie into the house.
Ehilie, who looked around the interior, was surprised once again.
It was not simply the exterior that had changed—the interior had been neatly transformed as well.
“Does it not please you?”
“No. It’s not that, but……”
Rather, the problem was that it was perfect to an astonishing degree.
Not only the interior structure, but every piece of furniture and decoration was entirely to Ehilie’s taste.
“How did you decorate everything exactly to my taste?”
She had never particularly told Rek how she wanted the house decorated.
“I prepared it while recalling things Ehilie had shown interest in.”
Rek continued speaking while smoothing the warm cream-colored curtains.
“Previously, you stopped your steps while passing by to watch curtains fluttering beyond the window of some mansion.”
“Did I do that?”
“Yes. You exclaimed how splendid it was while looking at a table set in a dining room. You also said it would be nice to have such pretty tableware at home.”
Rek remembered everything Ehilie had said in passing.
Things she herself couldn’t even remember, trivial words.
She was moved.
“Thank you, Rek,”
The affection filling the house melted Ehilie’s doubts away.
Our home where I will live with my beloved husband.
Her heart already fluttered at the happy future they would draw together here.
***
Now she had truly believed her newlywed life would become peaceful, but another uninvited guest arrived.
It was a knight from the Imperial House.
“Count Rek Edmond, in accordance with the conscription order for the reclamation of the northern Demon Realm territory, you are to join the assembly point established in Count Terbaon’s territory three days hence.”
“Wh-what? C-conscription order!”
Suddenly, what was this about!
Come to think of it, she vaguely remembered hearing something.
A rumor that the Emperor was preparing for war to reclaim the northern territory he had given to the demons as a gesture of amity in the past.
That place was too barren for humans to live in.
Moreover, it had no usable resources and was practically dead land.
To wage war to reclaim such useless land.
Everyone had thought it was groundless nonsense.
Ehilie was the same.
‘I thought it was just a wild rumor!’
The conscription officer took out a document from his breast pocket and added.
“As nobles, you ought to take up swords for the Empire. Originally, either the head of the House of Terbaon or his successor should come forth, but the Count has received unfit-for-service judgment due to a shoulder injury, and Cain Terbaon due to weak constitution. Therefore, your husband, Count Rek Edmond, must undertake that duty in your place, Ehilie Terbaon.”
“B-but……”
Ehilie urgently searched her memory.
Fortunately, there was a solution to overcome this situation.
“Under Imperial law, isn’t there a clause stating that conscription is exempted if it is judged that maintaining the livelihood of the remaining family would be difficult in the absence of the head of household?”
She was about to make the excuse that she would have trouble eating and surviving without her husband.
“Yes, that is correct, however.”
The conscription officer’s gaze went beyond Ehilie’s shoulder.
Behind her stood a luxurious two-story mansion that could never be claimed as poor circumstances.
“Though it is a small rural village, you have the financial means to live in a house of this size. Even if your husband is absent immediately, it does not seem that problems would arise in the lady’s livelihood. If it is truly inconvenient, you could return to your main house, could you not?”
Ehilie was at a loss for words at the conscription officer’s methodical rebuttal.
“Therefore, it does not qualify for exemption due to livelihood difficulties.”
‘What should I do?’
Ehilie looked at Rek.
Would he not come up with a good plan?
But contrary to expectations, Rek also wore a troubled expression.
It couldn’t be helped.
No matter how much he acted as if there was nothing to fear in the world, the one giving the order was the Imperial House, which held the greatest power in this nation.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
The conscription officer left after thrusting the warrant forward as if pushing it.
A heavy silence hung in the air.
“What is the matter?”
Herond, who had been cleaning the mansion, slipped outside.
“Mr. Herond……”
When Ehilie looked at him with tears in her eyes, Herond jumped in surprise and gauged Rek’s mood.
“Y-your Majesty? Has something happened to Lady Ehilie?”
“No.”
“Something has happened to me.”
“What? What is it?”
Ehilie answered instead to Herond’s bewildered question.
“Rek has to go to war……”
“What?”
“As part of the punitive force to reclaim the northern Demon Realm territory.”
“Whaaaat?”
Herond’s eyes widened as if they would pop out.
An expression of shock rose on his face.
“S-so you’re saying the humans are going to invade…… no, launch a punitive expedition against the northern Demon Realm?”
“Yes.”
“And Your Majesty has been conscripted into that punitive force?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Herond could not close his mouth in confusion.
Ehilie was also distressed in her heart.
She was worried that someone with a weak constitution might get hurt if he went to war.
“Y-your Majesty. Is this true?”
The person in question, Rek, merely shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent face.
“So it seems.”
***
Redemberg sent the confused Ehilie home first.
The ironic situation where the Demon King, master of the Demon Realm, was conscripted for the invasion of the northern Demon Realm territory.
Thanks to being conscripted, he had learned of the Empire’s secretly prepared invasion plan in advance—should he consider this fortunate?
“Your Majesty, this is not something to simply let pass! You must sweep away these ignorant human fools and teach them a lesson!”
Herond hissed, unable to contain his anger.
“Return to the Demon Realm immediately and assemble the troops! We must crush them so that the human fools never dare to harbor such foolish thoughts again!”
Redemberg asked indifferently.
“It would take ages just to assemble the troops.”
Herond flinched.
Come to think of it, that was true.
Redemberg had no direct military forces of his own.
His lord, Redemberg, was the most unique among the Demon Kings in history.
Ordinary Demon Kings would demonstrate their power, build up military strength, and invade the human realm to expand their territory.
But he had no interest in proving his strength or war.
So much so that he disbanded the Demon King’s army because they were annoying, and completely emptied the castle.
“Your Majesty! What will you do if you disband the Demon King’s army!”
“Is there a problem?”
“Of course there is! What if a rebellion occurs!”
“I’ll kill them all.”
“W-well, yes…… Th-then what if the humans attack!”
“They’ll stop them somehow.”
“What?”
“Isn’t that why I gave territorial autonomy to those who guard the borders?”
There were hierarchies even in the Demon Realm.
Among them were margraves who guarded the borders between the human realm and the Demon Realm.
For demons, power was authority.
Therefore, allowing humans to set foot in the territory one guarded was a humiliating matter tantamount to admitting one’s incompetence.
So naturally, everyone guarded their borders with bloodshot eyes.
For this reason, the only members of the Demon King’s castle household were Herond and Lucy.
“Th-then! Will you just hand over the north like this?”
The north was quite barren even for demons to live in, a place no one wanted.
In the end, what remained there were lower-class demons with nowhere else to go.
With no proper military forces, if the humans attacked in earnest, they would not be able to stop them.
“I must stop them.”
At the simple answer, Herond heaved a sigh of relief.
But only for a moment—soon he sent an uneasy gaze.
“How will you stop them? Surely you’re not saying you’ll stop them without any plan?”
“Do I look like someone without such thoughts?”
“N-no! How could that be! I never doubt that Your Majesty has already devised an excellent strategy to strike at the enemy’s weakness!”
Herond, sweating cold sweat, asked slyly.
“So what do you intend to do?”
“I shall establish a Demon King.”
“As expected of Your Majesty! Excellen…… What? Wh-what will you establish?”
“A Demon King.”
“Ah, do you mean you will personally take action?”
“No. I am conscripted as Ehilie’s husband, so I must keep my position.”
Since harm would come to Ehilie, he could not become a deserter.
“So…… while you, the Demon King, are on the humans’ side, you will establish a Demon King to stop the humans?”
“Yes.”
Herond blinked his eyes with a stupid expression, unable to understand what this meant at all.
Redemberg omitted the detailed explanation.
They would all understand when the time came.
