漫画大王

Chapter 336

It seemed she had lost the last bit of hope and sympathy she had for humanity after being confronted by the ugly side of humanity several times over the past few months.

“Don’t be too harsh on them. They probably don’t know any better,” I said.

“...”

Olivia clicked her tongue. “Yeah, maybe. If they knew, it might have been different.”

Olivia looked at me. “If they knew that demons saved my life, they would have said I was a filthy and impure woman who should be burned at the stake.”

Olivia’s eyes had changed.

The sadness in her eyes was now gone, replaced by a dark abyss. It felt similar to Radia Schmidt’s eyes.

The malice and unpalatable side of humanity had ultimately broken Olivia.

I couldn’t refute Olivia’s words.

Whether in knowledge or ignorance, humans did disgusting things. That was undeniable.

“The Demon King? Sure, I don’t know why those demons saved me. But if that Demon King’s real goal is to rebuild the demon realm and kill all humans,” Olivia grabbed my hand tightly, “then I would fight to protect the few people I love. I would never fight for those vermin.”

Olivia hugged me.

Just like Ellen did, Olivia had concluded that she would fight.

However, the fundamental reason for her decision was drastically different from the Olivia of the past.

It had to change, and it did.

***

Olivia was someone who embodied the phrase “soft on the outside, strong on the inside.” While she might not have been that way with everyone, she was kind and gentle to many, yet firm in her resolve.

However, even such a person would break when pushed past their limits.

She had grown increasingly weary of gently rejecting and pushing away the countless people clinging to her, and the recent events had driven Olivia to her mental breaking point.

It wasn’t just the obsession of the religious and the faithful. Olivia had been betrayed by those in charge of the orphanages she had sponsored, who were embezzling funds while leaving the children to starve, and finally, she had been mobbed by a crowd who had used their tears as a weapon to demand her sacrifice.

She had realized that there was no need for her to live her life for those people, and had changed.

She would fight the Demon King if necessary, but it wouldn’t be for humanity’s sake.

Given how she felt, she might even join forces with the next Demon King and work towards the destruction of humanity if she knew it was me.

But I didn’t want to exploit Olivia’s broken state. I didn’t want to impose some strange mission on someone who was already so pitiable.

After all, I didn’t wish for the destruction of humanity either.

Of course, Olivia hadn’t changed drastically compared to her usual self.

—Stop being annoying and get lost.

—S-Sorry? Unnie, what are you saying...?

—I said get lost. How many times do I have to tell you? Are you an idiot?

—Wh-What... Unnie...?

—If you’re not an idiot, why do you make me repeat myself dozens of times? Hey. Look me in the eye. Look me in the eye.

—Unnie, you’re scaring me. Why are you suddenly...

After that, I saw Olivia harshly rebuke someone a few times.

Radia Schmidt wasn’t the only one demanding that she return to the religious community.

Olivia, who had previously offered a troubled bit gentle refusal to such demands, now responded with sharp rejections and even ferocity.

In a way, I thought it was fortunate.

—Oh, Reinhart! Want to have lunch together?

But seeing her harshly scold other junior students and then suddenly smile brightly at me...

Seeing her run over with a big smile and link arms with me...

Well... It felt as if my older sister had become even crazier than before.

And that made me a little... afraid.

***

My noona had changed.

To be honest, though, the surface-level changes seemed positive.

People who had the intention to force her into doing things while pretending not to had kept clinging to her because she was excessively kind.

To put it nicely, they were treating her like shit.

Now that Olivia had begun to respond harshly to such demands, people seemed too scared to make such demands of her.

They might spout nonsense about her being possessed by a demon or something, but Olivia was physically stronger than anyone. If they tried to do anything by force, they would suffer a terrible beating.

It was good that Olivia was strong in that regard, for her own sake as well.

***

Finally, on one of the days during the break...

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

I met Eleris in the southern forest where the headquarters of the Rotary Club was located.

“Your Highness, I will give you the details on all the members of the Vampire Council. You must remember them well.”

A meeting with the Vampire Council... Before that, Eleris had to inform me of all the necessary precautions from A to Z.

The future would change significantly based on the outcome of the meeting that day.

Therefore, there could be no mistakes.

***

Flash!

We returned to the ancient castle of Epiacs through teleportation. The winter winds blew through it even more fiercely than before.

The castle felt much more eerie while shrouded in this snowstorm, perhaps due to the beings within it.

“Where’s Radia?”

“I’ve warned her not to leave her room during the meeting.”

“Good.”

‘Damn it.’

Even though I had no particular affection for her, I couldn’t help but be concerned while Eleris was taking care of her, despite the fact that she was now scared out of her wits and had been brought all the way here, which made it impossible for her to do anything foolish.

Swoosh...

I used Sarkegar’s ring to transform back into Baalier.

This task, I would undertake under the name of Baalier, not Reinhart.

I was attending the Vampire Council, a meeting of the heads of the five Vampire Lord families.

The location of the meeting was exactly the same as the place where the nightly discussions for the Mafia game had been held during the Temple’s group mission.

To think that the very place where the students had debated who to ‘assassinate’ was now occupied by the Vampire Lords, whose mere presence could turn the entire continent upside down, felt both terrifying and somewhat absurd.

When I opened the door to the meeting room, I saw that four people were already seated at the round table.

Since they were not affiliated with the Demon Realm, they did not show any particular respect towards me.

One looked at me with interest, one with indifference, one with disdain, and one did not seem to have any noticeable intentions.

“Nice to meet you all. I am Baalier.”

Given my age and the fact that they were not affiliated with the Demon Realm, I decided to use honorifics, even if I wasn’t overly polite.

As soon as I finished speaking and sat down, a chilling laugh echoed through the meeting room.

“The master of the nonexistent has arrived.”

The nonexistent...

They must have been referring to the already-vanquished Dark Land. I chose not to respond to the provocation.

The vampire who laughed at me was a woman with pale skin and alluring red lips.

Aside from her beauty, there was one distinctive feature about her that I wasn’t particularly surprised by, since Eleris had already informed me of it.

“Nice to meet you. I am Lruien, the head of the house of Thursday of the Seven Nights.”

She had long ears, which could only mean one thing.

‘She’s an elf.’

An elf, a race that had been extinct for a very long time, was living on as a vampire.

From the first Vampire Lord’s introduction, I got the sense that all these Vampire Lords were ancient beings.

An elf was surprising enough, but visually, the being next to her was even more astonishing.

“Nice to meet you, young Demon King,” said the one sitting next to her in a deep voice. “I am Galarsh, the head of the house of Friday of the Seven Nights.”

A massive figure with gray, rock-like skin, red eyes, and tusk-like teeth protruding over the lower lip.

‘Galarsh, the Orc Vampire.’

Even hearing about it felt strange, but the intimidation factor was no joke.

I had heard that all Vampire Lords were excellent mages, but this one looked like he should be wielding a stone axe instead.

Next was a vampire who was observing me with curious eyes.

“Hey, Archdemon! I’m Lucinil, the head of the house of Wednesday of the Seven Nights! Nice to meet you! Since I’m older than you, I’ll address you casually, okay?”

“... Yeah, sure.”

‘A vampire with an unusually high energy level...’

She had the appearance of a young girl, and even acted like a child.

“They are all unique in their own ways, but none of them are particularly ferocious. Given their long lives, they are quite dignified. However, you can consider the head of Wednesday to be harmless.”

Although she had the appearance of a young girl, she was clearly not human.

I had heard she was a homunculus.

I couldn’t imagine a homunculus becoming a vampire. It was also a mystery as to who had created such a homunculus and how she had become a vampire.

Lucinil was probably the most peculiar among the Vampire Lords gathered ther. She looked at me with a curious expression.

And lastly...

“It is an honor to meet such a great being.”

An elderly gentleman, who had been wearing a bowler hat, took it off and bowed deeply to me.

“I am Antirianus, the head of the house of Saturday among the Seven Nights.”

He looked at me with an inscrutable smile.

He was supposed to be human.

Antirianus, aside from Eleris, looked the most ordinary here, which ironically made him seem the least ordinary.

In fact, Eleris had warned me to be cautious of Antirianus, and that his intentions were hard to read.

Eleris of Tuesday.

Lucinil of Wednesday.

Lruien of Thursday.

Galarsh of Friday.

And Antirianus of Saturday.

The five members gathered here were the entirety of the current Vampire Council.

“Well then, let’s proceed with the meeting now that the Archdemon is here,” Antirianus declared quietly, announcing the commencement of the meeting.