‘...The Demon King of Cruelty.’
Helmuth’s second Demon King — Eugene could clearly recall just how terrifying and strong the Demon King of Cruelty had been.
Three hundred years ago, in the Devildom of Helmuth, there had been five Demon Kings. Ranked according to their strength:
No. 1. The Demon King of Destruction.
No. 2. The Demon King of Incarceration.
No. 3. The Demon King of Fury.
No. 4. The Demon King of Cruelty.
No. 5. The Demon King of Carnage.
Vermouth and his companions had begun their conquest with the weakest, fifth-ranked Demon King.
Eventually, Hamel had died in the castle of the Demon King of Incarceration.
The Demon Spear Luentos was the spear used by the Demon King of Cruelty. After killing him, Vermouth became the spear’s new master. Hamel had actually wanted to use that spear, but, as its name suggested, the Demon Spear gave off such terrible demonic power that no one could actually use it, other than Vermouth that is.
“...It’s wrong to say that the Demon Spear Luentos is the strongest among all of the Great Vermouth’s weapons. The strongest one is, of course, the Annihilation Hammer Jigollath,” Gargith declared after some thought.
“The Demon King of Cruelty was stronger than the Demon King of Carnage,” Dezra argued in favor of her choice.
“The ranks of the Demon Kings have nothing to do with the ranks of their weapons.”
‘Now that I think about it, the Annihilation Hammer was also missing,’ Eugene thought, tuning out the argument.
Among all of Vermouth’s weapons, the Annihilation Hammer and the Demon Spear were the only ones that had belonged to Demon Kings.
‘It makes sense. Since those weapons are so foreboding, they can’t just be left inside the treasure vault. Perhaps they were sealed somewhere else. In any case, those weapons cannot be used by anyone other than Vermouth.’
As they were weapons he had often coveted in his previous life, he still couldn’t help but feel regret at not getting the chance to pick them.
“The Demon Spear is stronger.”
“No, the Annihilation Hammer is stronger.”
Gargith and Dezra had started to quarrel childishly. Eugene shook his head as he looked at the two of them and headed to the center of the gymnasium. Nina followed after Eugene in a hurry.
“The dinner preparations should be finished soon,” Nina reminded him.
“I’ll be done soon as well,” Eugene reassured her.
Although he couldn’t summon any spirits right now, even without its spirits, Wynnyd was a good sword.
‘It’s also the first real sword that I’ve held in this life.’
Perhaps due to this, he was already feeling attached to it. Eugene pulled Wynnyd out of its sheath and ran his eyes down its blade. When he gently reached out and touched the flat of the blade, the chill of the metal sent a shiver up his spine. As he had expected, a true sword gave off a different feeling just from a touch. Even though it was much lighter than his iron-cored wooden sword, its nature as a weapon that could kill with a single slash proved the difference between it and a wooden sword.
“As I said, the Demon Spear is stronger!”
“No, it’s the Annihilation Hammer.”
Those two were still going strong. After looking at them with a pitying gaze, Eugene turned his focus back on Wynnyd.
Both the Demon Spear and the Annihilation Weapon were such great weapons that even he found it difficult to choose which of them was superior. However, if he had to choose the greatest out of all of Vermouth’s weapons, Eugene would make that choice without any hesitation.
‘It’s the Moonlight Sword.’
It was pure destruction in the form of a sword; even the Devildom of Helmuth had chosen to seal it away. Eugene remembered just how terrible that sword was. Although the Holy Sword was used to kill the fifth-ranked Demon King, it was rarely used in battle after Vermouth got his hands on the Moonlight Sword.
Both the Demon King of Cruelty and the Demon King of Fury had been slain by the Moonlight Sword. Neither the Demon Spear nor the Annihilation Hammer, which Dezra and Gargith were making such a fuss about, could overcome the light of destruction emanated from the Moonlight Sword.
Eugene set aside all thought of the Moonlight Sword and started to swing Wynnyd.
Swish.
The sword gave off a soft glow as a slow swing of its blade cut the air itself apart. From the tips of his toes to the top of his head, Eugene felt a shudder of elation rush through his body.
“...Wow….” Nina softly exclaimed in admiration as Eugene slowly flowed through the movements of a sword dance.
Even from the perspective of someone like Nina, who had no skill with swords, Eugene’s sword dance seemed extraordinary. Gargith and Dezra’s childish quarrel was also cut short as the two turned to watch Eugene’s sword dance with mesmerized eyes.
It wasn’t amazingly fast, nor were there any astonishing techniques mixed into his movements. However, the eerie gleam emanated by Wynnyd blended perfectly with each movement in Eugene’s sword dance, flowing smoothly from one movement to the next without any interruption.
‘I definitely have to get him to come back with me,’ Gargith thought as he gulped down his astonishment.
‘...What should I say to get him to go with me? Shall I invite him to take a look around our home? It’s still quite a long time until my birthday…,’ Dezra was also having similar thoughts.
If only her birthday were closer, she would have been able to invite him to her birthday party as an excuse, but…. Dezra’s lips pouted in disappointment.
* * *
“...It’s an ordinary necklace,” Lovellian said as he opened his eyes and handed the necklace he was holding back to Gilead. “I have checked it thoroughly, but this item doesn’t have any magic attached to it.”
“...Is that so?”
Although he tried to sound casual, these words caused Gilead to feel some embarrassment. It really turned out to be an ordinary necklace without any magic at all. In fact, even calling it an ordinary necklace was over-the-top. After all, wasn’t it just a worthless, worn-out necklace?
But then why on earth had such a necklace been included with the main family’s treasures? Eugene had told him that the necklace had been buried deep in an inside corner of a shelf. Gilead had been in the treasure vault several times to search for this-and-that weapon, but he had never once seen such a necklace before.
‘And the necklace wasn’t even registered with the magic of the treasure vault in the first place.’
That meant someone else must have brought it in with them, but who? The late former Patriarch hadn’t been the type to play such meaningless pranks. If that were the case, what about his other ancestors? But that still left the question, what reason could they have had for even doing so?
“Was this necklace really inside the treasure vault?” Lovellian checked.
“Yes,” Gilead confirmed.
“...Could that boy, Eugene, have been playing a prank on you?”
“What reason could he have for doing so?”
“Hm…. From what I saw of him in the labyrinth, he has quite the cunning and mean-spirited side. Perhaps he snuck in with something that already belonged to him and picked that instead of something more expensive in order to leave a good impression on the Patriarch?” Lovellian cleared his throat and carefully started speaking. “Honestly speaking, Lord Gilead… you must have felt at least somewhat pleasantly surprised when Eugene returned with such a worthless necklace instead of something priceless.”
“...I can’t really deny that,” Gilead admitted with a wry smile. “However, isn’t he just a thirteen-year-old child? I can’t imagine that a boy like Eugene would be able to predict how I would feel about it and come up with a plan like this.”
“It would have definitely been a huge risk to take. He was lucky that Lord Gilead was able to show such a generous mindset; with just a bit of carelessness, he could have also lost his chance at a guaranteed piece of treasure.”
Lovellian was only airing a few idle suspicions. Even he didn’t really believe that Eugene could have come up with such a scheme. After pondering for a few moments longer, Lovellian held out his hand to Gilead.
“Allow me to check it just once more,” Lovellian requested.
“Haven’t you already finished all your scans?” Gilead asked.
“I have confirmed that there is no magic hidden within the necklace. However, now that I’ve also gotten a little curious about its origins, I’d like to dig a little deeper into it.”
“How do you mean to do so?”
“Hm… how should I explain this? To put it simply, I’ll read the memories of the necklace from when it was young.” Lovellian continued speaking with a wry smile, “Mana exists everywhere in this world. While it’s impossible to communicate with mana directly, I know a spell that will allow me to read mana’s ‘memory.’ It is a spell created by the esteemed teacher of our school, the Wise Sienna.”
Lovellian was unable to hide the pride that he felt as he finished his explanation. That was just how amazing this spell and its creator were. In the history of magic, the only wizard to discover a way to interact with mana in such a manner was the Wise Sienna.
“...Then I’ll be counting on you,” instead of sharing in Lovellian’s admiration, Gilead simply handed the necklace back to him.
While feeling disappointed in his heart that Gilead didn’t seem to recognize the greatness of Sienna, Lovellian took the necklace. Then, focussing his concentration, he started to resonate with the mana of the necklace.
Mana existed everywhere in the world. Most objects also contained some amount of mana. Even if it was too meager to exhibit any mystical effects, it was still possible to read the memory contained within the mana.
“...Mmm…,” a moan escaped from Lovellian’s lips as he concentrated so hard sweat drops formed on his forehead. “...There really isn’t anything. It seems to be an item from around a hundred years ago. This is… the capital? On the side of the street… it was sold there. Then… mmm… I can’t read anything more from this point. It seems likely that magic of the treasure vault stopped the mana from recording any more memories.”
“A hundred years ago….” Gilead trailed off.
“Around that time, yes.”
That meant this necklace went back several generations. Currently, there wasn’t even anyone left from that time to ask about the origin of this necklace. In the end, he could only speculate that the Patriarch from several generations ago had decided to set this up as a prank for some unknown reason.
“So, what are you going to do with this necklace?” Lovellian asked.
“Since it doesn’t have any magic imbued within, I’ll just give it to that boy, Eugene. After all, he wanted it so much that he even passed up the opportunity to choose a treasure,” Gilead explained.
“There was no need to go that far. I guess the boy must have really liked it,” Lovellian seemed perplexed.
“Well, there’s no reason for why he shouldn’t have it,” Gilead replied with a smile.
Lovellian returned the smile and handed back the necklace.
Lovellian was the Head of the Red Tower of Magic. However, even he could not discover that this necklace was the very necklace that Hamel had worn three hundred years ago.
The mana reading he had performed had managed to deceive Lovellian.
