I made Airi promise some things to me. “Don’t do anything dangerous until I tell you otherwise, and don’t even think about starting anything without having a proper method to hide your identity from the humans”.
The most important thing was getting an identity. Not in the Capital of the Empire or one of its Principalities, or any other large city, but in a rural place at the outskirts of some country.
This part was provided by Loyar and Eleris.
I didn’t know what Airi would do from now on, but I was sure that she understood what I meant. Since Eleris was by my side, I was also able to go see her periodically using teleportation.
“You absolutely have to dye your hair.”
“Huh? Ah…, Yes.”
Pink hair was just too much. She was at the black market, but there were surely some people who saw Airi. It was fortunate enough that she wasn’t identified as the Succubus Queen’s daughter. If she were, she wouldn’t have appeared on the black market.
Of course, only a few actually had seen a succubus before. Frankly speaking, even if she went to a city on the outskirts of the Empire, her identity wouldn’t be revealed. No one would notice the marks left behind by the removal of her horns and tail unless she deliberately showed them to someone, and even if they were to see them, they’d only appear like some severe wounds. No one would think that these were wounds left behind by removing horns and tails.
“First we have to decide where you should go‥….”
Airi was planning on raising money to seize the Financial World of the Empire. I honestly thought that this was quite impossible, but Airi seemed to need a goal for now.
She needed something she could focus on to overcome her despair. That was why I was trying to think of something for her even though I didn’t believe it was possible.
Where could I send Airi to do business and her identity wouldn’t be revealed?
Let’s think about that.
“First of all, it should be a place that housed a lot of travelers. If there are many people coming and going it wouldn’t be considered weird if you guys suddenly appeared there.”
Loyar nodded her head at my words.
“Yes, if they went to a small village where everyone knew each other, that might be rather suspicious. If we’re talking about a place with a lot of travelers, that would probably be a trading hub.”
Everyone agreed with Loyar. If it were city that served as a trading hub, it would be easy to do business there and it had a large floating population.
Additionally, a trading city would be an important transportation hub as well.
All cities with Extra-Large Warp Gates were playing that role. People who used Large Gates or Normal Gates usually flocked to these places.
If we were to compare it to subway stations, an Extra Large Warp Gate was like a transfer station, so it naturally was crowded.
In a nutshell, any place that held Extra Large Warp Gates would be a transportation hub.
“A place with an Extra Large Warp Gate would be very convenient. Places like that could be reached immediately after a person of the Empire passed through two or three other gates.”
So I had to consider one possibility.
“Are there any maritime trading hubs that don’t have any gates? Even a regular trading hub would be fine as long as they don’t have any gates.”
In the Empire, there was a huge number of Warp Gates, but that was only possible for the Empire. In the outskirts, there were many towns that didn’t have any Warp Gates, and there still must be trade that depended on regular transportation using wagons. Of course, if there were no gates, the amount of money flowing around the city would be relatively small, but safety was our number one priority here.
Right now we didn’t have something like a Map of the Empire, so we couldn’t make any judgements by looking at one.
“How about the Edina Archipelago?”
Was there a place like that? I never wrote anything about it. There were many places like that so I wasn’t actually surprised. It went without saying that I didn’t know much about it.
However, if it was an archipelago, it definitely was an island area.
“Where is it?”
“It’s an island country beyond the southern waters of Kernstadt. I heard that their trade is only dependent on sea trade with Kernstadt, because it’s too far away and there are no gates connecting them to the continent. I remember that there are gates connecting the islands together, but there are no gates connecting them to the main land.”
“It is an island….”
If so, even if her identity got discovered, it would take a long time until the Empire could begin their pursuit. It was a very distant country, so it was clear that they didn’t have much interest in the Empire’s internal affairs.
The actual size of their economy might not be that large, but I didn’t really want to become a big player anyway, I just needed to have that awareness that I did something at least.
“What do you think?”
As I was looking at her, Airi nodded.
“If the gates only connect to the other islands and foreign trade is conducted through ships, goods would be concentrated at the most prosperous port city on the islands. I’m sure there would be a lot of people as well….”
I didn’t know how big their population was, but if there were only a few people living there, it wouldn’t be called a country. Airi nodded, saying that she could be at ease if we sent her there.
However, I was still slightly worried.
“Will it really be okay?”
“Yes.”
She boldly said that she was willing to do anything. She looked about my age, so she was still a kid. I felt so bad for her that I felt like dying.
And that wasn’t why I asked if it would be okay.
“People in port cities tend to be rough, that’s why I asked you.”
A sailor would die if they weren’t quick on their feet. So there were a lot of quick-tempered and rough people among them. It was basically a fact that there were a lot of gangsters near the shores where the goods gathered, but that affected the people living there as well, giving them no other choice but to adopt that rough behavior.
I had no idea what kind of business they planned on opening there, but I believed they were very likely to go into the maritime trade. So the succubi would work as employees then?
Just imagining it would make me think of many troublesome things coming their way.
“Aah…. We are only physically weakened for now. Although we won’t be able to use magic anymore as our mana management facilities have been broken, our physical abilities will return soon.”
It seemed like they were only weak for now, soon their strength would be restored. The other succubi also didn’t seem to worry about that.
“Can you handle those people?”
“Your Highness.”
As if she knew what I was worried about, Loyar called out to me.
“Huh. What is it?”
“Well…. Put in different terms, Her Highness the Princess would be Your Highness’ senior martial sister.”
“Senior martial sister?”
Masters, disciples, senior martial brother, junior martial sister, senior martial sister. Was it that type of deal? Why did such a martial arts setting suddenly pop up?
So did that mean she was older than me? Was I supposed to call her big sister or something?
“Yes. Your Highness and Her Highness both learned swordsmanship from Sir Larkan Simonstite, who was the first of the Four Heavenly Kings.”
Who now?
“………Did we? But why can’t I perform any type of swordsmanship at all? Is it because I lost my memory?”
There was no sign of my body remembering any of that swordsmanship though? It was still called pseudo-swordsmanship in my status window.
Of course it would be seriously weird for me to know any of that stuff because I didn’t even have the original Valier’s memory, but shouldn’t there be at least something that had been ingrained into this body?
Loyar shook her head with a firm look hearing my remarks.
“Even if you were to remember these days, you probably wouldn’t gain any of it.”
“……So I was just loafing around and getting beat up all day?”
“Yes.”
Since I hadn’t learned it properly to begin with, saying that I wouldn’t be able to use swordsmanship even if I remembered those days was kind of harsh. Airi wore a vague expression on her face, hearing Loyar’s words. It seemed like she had trouble overlapping the person she knew with the one I am today.
“So?”
“The Princess was an honor student on the other hand.”
You’re not even at a level where you could worry about her because she’s on a completely different level. That was what Loyar was trying to tell me politely.
“So, even if you can’t use your magic, you’d still have enough power to give those bastards a beating?”
“Ah, yes…. That’s how it is….”
Although she was weakened at the moment, she was still the Succubus Queen’s daughter and seemed to have been training her body all this time. I see. In fact, she was really good at fighting, so she must have beaten up this damn Valier a lot.
Although we were taught by the same person, I just slacked off while Airi studied hard.
So, even in this situation where she almost lost all her power she had at least one thing she could rely on.
“Good. Then let’s do it like this, although it’s a bit unfortunate that we don’t have the means to contact each other in case of an emergency, but that’s a small price to pay to avoid the Empire pulling anything.”
I had no idea what they were capable of doing, but I hoped that they just would be able to live happily without getting caught.
Considering my conduct at Temple, that’s definitely not a path I could take anymore.
For the time being, I decided to let Eleris take care of the ten succubi and the Succubus Queen. We would need some basic capital as well so Loyar also decided to send Eleris.
Eleris started casting mass teleport to send me, Sarkegaar and Loyar back.
“The atmosphere of the Capital will soon tense up. You’d better return to Temple right away.”
I nodded at Eleris words. Eleris, who could do so many things with her magic, was also leaving for a bit to help out Airi.
It would be best to just return to Tempel and lay low. Airi looked at me with an expression displaying a complicated mix of emotions. Then she carefully opened her mouth.
“It is said that people show their true face when they are in a crisis.”
‘People’ refered to all humanoid intelligent beings, so it was not wrong to refer to me as ‚People‘.
“What’s the matter?”
“You said that you lost your memory…. That would mean that this is your true face.”
Airi looked at me with a smile on her face, and placing a hand on my shoulder.
“If that’s the case, then you absolutely deserve to be our King.”
Perhaps she just finished her re-evaluation of me in her mind, so Airi seemed to trust me. Someone I didn’t even know who bullied and hated me ended up trusting me.
Perhaps because the end result was the only thing that mattered to me, I felt quite good about that. Airi was the Succubus Queen, so depending on her growth, she could become a strong ally.
However, she did say that she lost all her growth potential.
I got one more ally, but I can’t tell if I’m happy about that or not.
“I was told you were my senior martial sister.”
“Ah…. Yeah. Although we didn’t really have that many lessons together.”
We shared the same teacher and we were both part of the Demon Realm’s Royalty as well.
“Take good care of yourself. If anything happens, tell me.”
“……Yes.“
We didn’t actually come from the same place, and she wasn’t actually my childhood friend, but just knowing that she shared some memories with this body’s former owner made me want to get along with her.
* * *
After hearing rumors about demons getting sold on the black market, we tried rescuing them and finally managed to save 107 demons.
Among them was the daughter of the Succubus Queen who was Royalty same as me. Without my intervention, Airi would have ended up leading a miserable life. However, in the end, Airi couldn’t be of any help to me so she tried doing something on her own.
As such, Airi took off to do business in the port city of the Edina Archipelago south of Kernstadt, unknown to even me, the writer.
The ending of this incident ended up being slightly boring. If I were to get my hands on an Elixir with which I could restore Airi’s condition, things would be slightly different.
Of course, I didn’t know if I would ever get one of these.
I had no clue what kind of existence the Succubus Queen was, but she was one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Realm.
Even Eleris, who had overwhelming magical power, wasn’t part of the Four Heavenly Kings. That might have meant that Airi’s potential was far greater than Eleris’. Of course, Airi seriously seemed to want to rebuild the Demon Realm, but I just really hoped to get one more strong person under me before the Gates eventually appeared. When that happened, it wouldn’t matter whether one was a demon or a human.
In the end, I got the Succubus Queen as my ally after this whole ordeal. She would travel to a place with no Gate connecting to the mainland in sight, so I could only meet her through Eleris, however, I felt more relieved that she would be in a safe place rather than feeling inconvenienced.
The next day.
I was listening to the superintendent’s instructions along with the others who decided to stay behind.
“As for now, all students are prohibited from going out of Temple until instructed otherwise. If there are any people returning from outside, let them know as well.”
In this chaotic situation, Temple issued a ban on going out. Shortly after the Victory Festival started, a terrorist incident presumed to be caused by demons occurred within the Imperial Capital.
There were no fatalities, but the Knights Templar were attacked in the middle of the night and many saw a huge firestorm illuminating the night sky.
Those who had already returned to their home didn’t know about this piece of news, however, if they were to return they wouldn’t be allowed to leave Temple until this case was settled.
Therefore, there weren’t many remaining inside of Temple.
What I caused was rather abnormal, and I fully knew that. I pretty much expected what would happen next.
“The whole festival has been canceled.”
“That’s right. This is just too abnormal.”
Kayer nodded his head at Kono Lint’s words.
The Victory Festival should have lasted for the whole month, according to the original.
However, it ended now after only a few days. It was only natural that the people who gathered here were overcome with a sense of fear by this sudden act of terrorism.
During this grand festival celebrating the annihilation of the demons, something like that happened in the middle of the Imperial Capital. This was worse than smearing shit all over the Emperor’s face. The Empire would do everything to track down those demons that had fled through a Warp Gate.
This would lead to information about the black market coming to light.
The truth that there were people trying to open up a secret auction with some prisoners of war they stole as merchandise, and some other demons tried to rescue their captured brethren.
The Empire, that only mentioned that demons were able to infiltrate the Capital and that they should get destroyed, tried to sell them as sex slaves.
I was the one who smashed the honor of the Empire to pieces.
The atmosphere in the Empire would quickly turn into a grievous one, and it would stay that way for quite some time.
[Achievement earned – Deviation from the Original]
[Due to your actions the main story has been changed]
[You have earned 500 Achievement Points.]
Along with those changes came some achievement points.
The main story had been changed.
I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. The grand festival that took place in the Imperial Capital was more like a background settinh, not really part of the main story.
The main storyline was what Ludwig experienced and went through during the Festival, as I mentioned before.
“I can’t believe that there were demons inside of the Imperial Capital….”
I could hear that Ludwig’s nervous voice.
“I’m scared….”
And B-9, Delphine Izadra, was muttering in fear.
My actions caused the Temple students to get locked up in here, so the ‘Delphine Izadra Kidnapping’ event completely disappeared.
