Yo -- Crown Prince Heydar's goal is, after all, to elevate Aravana to the status of a great and powerful nation again. That's all.
　Whether this is rooted in self-interest or a sense of duty for someone who was born into the imperial family is no longer clear to me. For such a long time, that purpose has become the norm for me. It has been that way since I was a child.

　If I can be proud of one thing, it's that I love the people of Aravana. I love them beyond description for their simple, unsparing lives despite the harsh environment of the desert.
　It is for this reason that the "Unguarded Nation Volunteers", which I control from the shadows, attack only those nobles and wealthy merchants who prey on the motherland. It is strictly forbidden to threaten the lives of the innocent people with impunity. Whenever a gangster violated this prohibition, he made an example of them by imposing decisive sanctions.

　I want to be a great English monarch, the founder of Alabama's Middle Ages, as they call it.
　At the same time, he wanted to enrich the lives of his beloved people. I wanted to get them out of their current lifestyle, where they feared for the water of tomorrow.

　But there are many problems.
　Alavana has too few resources. It would be difficult to win the economic war with these resources.
　There are only a finite number of magic items that can be excavated from ancient ruins. Even if we were to promote more excavations throughout the country, they would only get smaller and smaller.
　On the other hand, a policy of military expansion was out of the question. If this is the case, the people whom I love will be forced to become helpless. No matter how much I want the granaries in the north or the port cities in the south, I cannot just send my people off to war of aggression, no matter how much I want them.

　All I could do, when I eventually came to the throne, was to raise the nation's power little by little, through honest, if unsophisticated, good government.
　When I realized this, I despaired, because my father was too dark.
　Because Yo's father was too dark and foolish.
　It is too easy to tilt the country and anyone can do it. Whether or not I would be able to regain the power of the country that that foolish man had lost in his lifetime in a single generation... or not...
　Isn't it vain to work hard for such a level of future?
　For what purpose did I come into this world?
　And that's it!　If another dark fool were to take the throne in a few generations after me, my reign would simply fall apart.

　I couldn't help but despair.
　Hoping to take advantage of his despair, Jamuitan, the Demon Storm General, whispered sweet nothings to me.
　But ... what a surprise!
"The approach of the General's Demon Storm was certainly enough to give me hope.

　I pretended to be seduced by his indulgence, and with a vigor that no mere mortal could muster, I amassed a valuable, ancient treasure - a power that I could not.
　He tricked the Jamuitan into believing that I was the one who had the power to defeat him.
　I myself became a demon of Level 40 or higher.

　I had no hesitation in throwing my body away.
　The reason being that by gaining more power on your own than any other army, you can wage a war of aggression without forcing your beloved people to be helpless.
　Above all, the lifespan of the "Eight Demon Generals" class is long. It would easily exceed a thousand years.
　If you have that much time, you can make Alabana a world empire of unprecedented proportions.
　No, it's not impossible for me to become the new Demon King and paint the map of this world in Alavana.

　At that time, I wonder what kind of happy faces the people will have on their faces?
　Would you be proud of me?
　Just by imagining this, my humanity, which has been lacking little by little day by day, warms up again.

　　　　◇◆◇◆◇◇◇.

　With a large number of men under my command, I proceeded westward through the Earth Imperial Palace toward the Ancient Experiment Site.
　In front of me, there was a corridor that was openly lined with traps.
　Ten stone statues were lined up at five-meter intervals on either side of the corridor.
　Are they guardians themselves, or do they have other means of killing, or are they traps or ceilings falling down to draw my attention to them?

Homes.

　I called him the third of the six stars, the "Shadow Runner," as he was known.
　No further orders are needed, and Homes moves as if he knows what he's doing. The five members he brought with him were identified.

You two, run all the way to that corner.
But, Mr. Homes...
We don't want to die...
Just run!　Or do you want me to kill you?
Hee....
I don't want to kill...
'If you can get to that corner, the boss will reward you. You'll be thanking the gentle chieftain for his kindness. Now go!

　The five of them ran down the hallway, driven by Homes, who flicked his blade at them.
　Then, as they ran to the middle, the trap was activated.
　Ten stone statues shot heat rays from their eyes, causing them to dance wildly.
　The minions were instantly burned to a crisp and chopped up, and five pieces of meat were lying on the corridor.

　I was unmoved, calling out the name of my confidant, "Nadia.

"Nadia.

　The number one of the six stars, the Wizard, bowed reverently and used his powerful magic to attack remotely, shattering the stone statue.
　She and Salima's sisters are the only ones in whom I have placed my genuine trust. I've been a friend and confidant of mine since my childhood, a vassal of my trusted associate.

　In comparison, the other members of the group are a bunch of hooligans in the name of "gloom and doom" or "heroism". If it weren't for me joining and leading the group, they would have committed robbery, rape and murder without a care in the world. They are the vermin that haunt my beloved homeland.
　The only way to get them to contribute to the public good of my country is to use poison to control it.

　After Nadia destroys all the stone statues, Homes chooses another five people to run down the corridor.
　This time they run all the way to the other corner.

'We're safe, boss.
Thank you.

　After answering Homes' report curtly, Yu strides leisurely down the corridor.
　He crossed the five people who crossed for their lives without giving them a second glance.

　In this way, Yu and the others steadily advanced through the traps in the earth imperial palace with many victims.
　Finally, they arrived at it.
　A huge double-opened gate that was half destroyed and no longer useful.
　On the other side of the gate, we could see a large laboratory.
　It's hard to believe that it's underground, an open space with a hazy, high ceiling that doubles as a magical light source.

'Yay, boss!
It's okay, boss!
'We're ahead of Magnus and his party!

　The subordinates were cheering with a mixture of relief.
　By the time they arrived here, there were only three members of the group, the six stars.
　Yu said to them.

''It looks like there's still one last trick left.

　Precisely - turns to Homes alone, Yu tells us.

　In front of the half-destroyed gate is a little hall.
　It's an unnatural, empty hall.

"Homes. You're the only one left. I'm counting on you.
"...What?　No, no, no, wait, wait, wait. Boss!　Don't tell me that you want me, a six-star, to be a human pillar as well!
What else did it sound like?
.....................

　When Homes was raptured, I told him repeatedly, even with compassion, "I will reward you if you can get to the other side of that gate.

I will give you a reward if you can reach the other side of that gate. The reward will be more than you can spend even if you play and live the rest of your life. You can thank your kind boss for that.
"d*mn it!

　Homes, unknowingly, turned his blade on me.
　Immediately, Yo's guards move in.
　They are not the sisters of Nadia and Salima. They are not the sisters of Nadia and Salima, they are the rear guard, and they have no way to protect me from a melee attack on the spur of the moment.

　In addition to the members of the group, I had fifteen other servants with me.

　All of them were small in stature, with their hoods hiding their faces and bodies.
　Their gait was exactly one thread.
　Then, as soon as Homes flipped his blade, the servants took off their hoods.
　What emerged from below was the beauty of a hard, inorganic girl.
　In addition, an incendiary samurai's dressing gown.
　That's right, those killing maids, born of the technology of the ancient magical empire!
　And that's fifteen!

　With terrifying agility and precision, it takes four of them to take down Homes, while giving me complete protection.

'Throw them in!'

　When I commanded him, he carried Homes up.

"Help!　I don't need a reward!　So please, please, only life!

　With no mercy for the pleading Homes, he carelessly threw them into the hall.

　Immediately, the floor of the hall wriggled eerily and large mouths opened here and there to bare their fangs.
　It was the Guardian known as the Floorimitator.
　Homes were being eaten away by countless mouths while screaming out screams of despair.
　I continued to watch the scene, unmoved.


　In the past, the "Magic Storm General" showed me the location of the undiscovered ruins.
　It was a tomb of an emperor in the ancient magical empire.
　I obtained all the maids that had been sleeping there and used them as soon as possible.
　I never thought that I would betray them, I had them take down the General of Magical Storm.

　The enemy is indeed one of the "Eight Demon Generals". It was a level 40 boss monster.
　Of the 100 maids that I had managed to obtain, 84 of them turned into silent wrecks on the spot.
　However, I was still able to defeat him. I took his power in stride.

　I became Heydar-Jamuitan, and I still had fifteen maids to kill.
　The "Unguarded Volunteers" were no longer needed as a fighting force or limb.
　In fact, it was more difficult to find a reason to keep those vermin alive.

　Only Homes, a high-level scavenger, could still be used to unearth the key to the Earth Palace, as well as traverse the Earth Palace itself, but that, too, was now gone.
　However, that was all gone now.


　After confirming that Homes had been eaten to death without leaving any bones, I ordered the maids to kill him.
　I'm not going to be able to get the best out of it.

　　　　◇◆◇◆◇

　Stepping over the corpse of the floorimitator and slipping through the half-destroyed gate, Yu stepped into the experimental square.
　Following him were the sisters of Nadia and Salima. And the fifteen killing maids.
　Often, as we proceeded, we found a large black sphere floating in the air, far away from us.
　No, is it really a sphere?　Depending on how you look at it, it looks like an empty hole in the world. In fact, the landscape around it was distorted.
　The horrifying scene is exactly what this is all about.
　But that's exactly what I was looking for.

　A glimpse of the Demon King's magic.

　It's almost there, it's almost there.
　This is the moment when the longtime plan that we've been working on in secret is finally coming to fruition.
　Even I was excited to see it. My footsteps became lighter.
　But--.
　He tried to rush to the jet-black sphere, or the hole in the world, but he couldn't.

　The sound of multiple footsteps approaching from behind.

　I suppressed a grind of teeth and turned around with my entourage.
　Then he turned to them, cowering his shoulders as he came after them.

I didn't think you could catch me, wizard.
I knew you'd catch up to me, Your Highness.

　The wizard answered without fear.
　He was - Magnus was such a fearless man.
　That's what he was from the first time I saw him. The way he talked back to his father, who was even if he was an emperor, in an unapologetic manner was small and eerie.
　At first glance, I couldn't help but feel a positive impression of the man.
　If possible, he was a man I would not want to make enemies with.

　But as long as I was on my high horse, a clash with him was inevitable.
　I would never say that it was because of fate.