novelraw Chapter 99 : Plant Demon (1)
Chapter 99 : Plant Demon (1)
Plant Demon (1)
Suddenly, plants that only grow in the demon realm began sprouting in this area.
Not only that, such plants were also growing throughout the entire academy, and the environment was changing into that of the demon realm.
Louis quickly noticed this fact, one that others would never catch on to.
The utterly nonsensical situation unfolding so suddenly left Louis flustered for the first time in a while.
"What, what is this now!?"
"Let's get out of here!"
The surrounding dark mages tried to use the sudden chaos as a chance to escape.
The Crown Prince tried to run with them, but Louis didn't especially try to stop him.
That was because, even if he did nothing, things in the direction they were fleeing would block them instead.
"You really shouldn't go that way."
So Louis offered a calm warning to them, but of course, they didn't understand.
In the end, the dark mages who charged ahead suddenly turned into skeletons.
"Eeeeek!!"
At the grotesque sight of human skin decaying and leaving only bones, the Crown Prince recoiled in horror and fell to the ground.
If he had been in the lead, he would have ended up like that himself.
"What... What the hell is happening!!?"
"It's cursed mist. Any living creature that enters that mist will be broken down to dust."
As the Crown Prince cried out in fear, Louis explained the phenomenon to him.
Sure enough, right in front of the Crown Prince, a massive wall of mist blocked his way.
"If you want to end up like that, go ahead and try escaping."
"How can such an absurd mist exist!?"
Having never set foot in the demon realm, the Crown Prince was baffled by what he was seeing.
Then, as the mist crept closer, he panicked and began backing away.
"What on earth is that mist!?"
"Mother. What should we do now?"
"For now, let's run!"
The Refilica brothers and their mother, too, were terrified by what was happening with the mist.
Assessing the situation quickly, Lisele suggested they escape into the academy with her two sons.
It meant entering the area being transformed into the demon realm, but leaving wasn't an option due to the mist.
Lisele's judgment was not entirely wrong.
As they scrambled to flee, Louis didn't bother to chase them.
He could catch them at any time if he wished, and besides, there were things he needed to ask the Crown Prince.
"You're acting like you really didn't expect this, aren't you?"
When Louis asked, the Crown Prince hurriedly blurted out,
"That's right. I know nothing about this! This wasn't part of my plan!"
"Well, of course. All you planned was to open rifts connected to the Great Devil by activating spells you installed throughout the city. All the residents of the city were merely sacrifices for those spells."
And, since it was event season, there were more people gathered than usual.
That was the reason the Crown Prince chose to set his plan in motion during this season.
To offer even more lives to gain the Great Devil's favor.
"Yes, you're right! It was supposed to be something that simple... Wait a minute! How do you know my whole plan?"
How could this person know information he'd never revealed to anyone?
"Your loyal subordinate, Elaine, explained it all to me."
"Don't talk nonsense! No kind of torture could make that one spill secrets so easily... Wait! Are you saying you know Elaine infiltrated the academy, too?"
Elaine had even disguised herself thoroughly to enroll.
To the Crown Prince, Louis seemed suspicious, knowing all of these secrets.
"Just what... are you...?"
"That's not important right now, is it? Take a look around. Even you can tell this is an unbelievable situation, right?"
As Louis said, this was a situation the Crown Prince himself hadn't anticipated.
He wracked his brain, trying to figure out why this was happening.
"Wait! No way... was it that one?"
Suddenly, someone popped into his mind.
Just then, Louis was also more suspicious of those around the Crown Prince than the prince himself.
"Your loyal Saber subordinates don't seem the type to do something like this."
"You're right. Except for Elaine, the rest of the Sabers aren't taking part in this plan right now. I gave them some other important assignment."
"Then, aside from the four Sabers, isn't there one more person?"
"You... even know about that?"
At the casino, the Crown Prince had been seen with the Saber and one other companion.
Louis had already been curious about that person's identity.
Reading the demand for an explanation in Louis's expression, the Crown Prince had no choice but to open up.
"The reason I resurfaced after four years to make this plan... it was all because of that man."
"Who is it?"
The trembling Crown Prince spoke the name.
"One of only three sword masters in the Imperial Court: Laika Bisted."
"...."
"I don't know who you are, but as long as he's with me... not even you will last long."
Before the protagonist became a Paladin or Lord, the sword masters were considered the strongest humans.
Just look at Paulo, the commander of the 7th Legion, and you can tell how powerful they are.
If they show their true strength, even higher-rank monsters of the demon realm are nothing to them.
"As long as he's on my side, no one can stop me."
Certainly, the swordmaster was a monster worthy of the Crown Prince's boasting.
Yet Louis was baffled.
"So why is a monster like that hanging around with you?"
"What?"
"Think about it. There must be a reason you're cooperating."
"The reason... was to help me with my plan...."
"Still, this present situation is far beyond what you planned. And I wasn't the one who caused all this. So doesn't that clue you in?"
Who exactly turned the academy into the demon realm?
"...."
Though he had no proof, the Crown Prince held his tongue, as the same person flashed through his mind.
"Did he really betray me...?"
If someone did something like this outside of the plan, it was as if the Crown Prince had been stabbed in the back by one he trusted.
All the allied dark mages died in the cursed mist, and the Crown Prince almost shared their fate.
"I'll have to postpone restraining you for now."
"What are you doing!?"
As Louis grabbed his arm, the Crown Prince protested angrily.
"Why? You want to stay here and die?"
"...!!"
Suddenly, monsters started appearing all around them.
The Crown Prince was flustered, since he'd never seen monsters like these before, but to Louis, they were just common monsters from the demon realm.
"Choose. Depending on my mood, I might just leave you here."
"......."
There was only one choice if he wanted to survive.
"Please... take me with you."
"Take you? Taaaake youuuu??"
How dare you speak so informally when asking for a favor?
"Take me with you! Please!!"
When the Crown Prince, through clenched teeth, changed his tone, Louis lifted him up with satisfaction.
"You should've done that from the start."
"......."
In the end, the Crown Prince escaped from the monsters' reach only because Louis took him.
He didn't like being carried by this mysterious boy, but he had no choice if he wanted to live.
Right now, he was weaker than any ordinary person.
"But what now? If this really is demon realm transformation, we won't survive."
"So we need to find a way out?"
"You've at least heard of the demon realm. Are you familiar with the infamous 7th Legion? The fortress where only criminals are gathered is in the demon realm! Bottom line, it's an environment where no human can survive!"
Louis already knew this, so he struggled to suppress a yawn while the Crown Prince talked.
Of course, the Crown Prince's reaction was based on his ignorance of who Louis really was.
"What about the people who are still at the academy?"
"The people?"
That made the Crown Prince tilt his head in confusion as he replied.
"Why should I care about them? Their lives are as brief as flickering flames, anyway."
"...."
"Let's focus on finding the exit. That's the only way you and I can survive!"
Listening closely to the Crown Prince's words, Louis fell silent for a moment.
Orbel, the Crown Prince. He still seemed to think of himself as a royal family member.
But did someone like that really have the right to refer to others as "those things"?
"Is that what you let escape your mouth as a royal?"
"What did you say?"
"If your little sister were here instead of you, she wouldn't have said to abandon the people."
"Who are you talking about!?"
His little sister was an extremely sensitive subject for the Crown Prince.
Just mentioning her made him explode.
"If you remind me of that girl one more time... I won't let you get away with...."
"Hey. Do you have a death wish?"
"What?"
"Are you saying you really want to die?"
Monsters were still swarming around them.
If Louis stopped walking, they could be caught in an instant, but he came to a halt anyway.
"Do you have no idea whose mercy you're living on right now?"
When Louis snapped with a look of utter annoyance, the Crown Prince immediately froze.
"I... I was wrong...."
"Then shut up, before I dump you by the roadside."
"Yes."
In truth, there was no problem with abandoning him.
Those monsters were no different from the ones he always hunted.
But there was still more Louis needed to extract from the Crown Prince.
Until then, he would keep him alive.
"In this situation, how could you possibly save anyone? Even the royal family can't do something impossible like that."
Anyone caught off guard by such an unanticipated event couldn't help but fall victim to it.
"And what if I had a way?"
But if you have a contingency plan, it's different.
Louis had already accounted for variables on the Crown Prince's side.
"The Emperor himself asked me to do everything possible for the people. Not like a certain royal who calls his people 'those things.'"
Again, the mention of a sensitive figure made the Crown Prince flinch.
****
The sudden demon-realm transformation of the city sent people into panic.
Repulsive roots grew out of the ground, emitting poison, and monsters suddenly appeared to attack.
People were helpless in the face of this unknown phenomenon.
If not for the orders of the academy's administration to evacuate people in advance, casualties would have been inevitable.
"We've succeeded in evacuating some people to the outside, principal."
"Good work. If we had stayed idle, the casualties would have been immense. It all seems to be thanks to that woman from the special task force."
The principal and vice-principal, following Silia's orders, advised people to flee to a safe zone.
At first, when they heard talk of disaster breaking out in the middle of such a peaceful event, they thought the warning absurd, but when disaster struck, they changed their minds.
"Could someone in the special task force have the ability to predict the future?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Only one, among the five Heroes of long ago was a real prophet."
"In any case, we can be a bit relieved now. Thank you all for cooperating."
The security guards the principal personally hired also took part.
Now, the residents were all gathered within a massive barrier set up throughout the academy.
"When did such barriers get constructed? We never built those...."
"Shh! Just say we built them. How else are we going to get credited for the evacuation?"
"Haha! You're right!"
Of course, they had nothing to do with creating the barriers.
They also didn't know that it was Elaine, under Louis's instructions, who put them up.
The principal and vice-principal were planning to take credit for something they didn't do.
They smiled as if used to this sort of behavior, when suddenly—
Sshhk!-
A guard suddenly cut down several teachers with an aura-infused slash.
"Huh?"
At the same time, the principal's arm floated in the air.
"Uwaaah!!"
The guard in black armor was one of those the principal had hired for cheap.
As the guard started acting violently, other guards rushed in to stop him.
KWAANG!-
But with a single swing of his sword, the guard cut down everyone, armor and all.
His strength was clearly not at an ordinary guard's level, and the vice-principal was aghast.
The guard then took off his helmet and said,
"The academy's standards have really fallen."
"You're...!"
People of the principal and vice-principal's generation still remembered the faces of the heroes from the demonkin war.
Having grown up hearing tales of their exploits, many became devoted fans.
As a result, upon seeing the face of the guard, the two of them looked just as if they'd been struck by lightning.
"Laika... Bisted...?"
An unexpected disaster, and the abrupt intrusion of someone they never thought would appear.
With everything spinning, the hero named Laika aimed his sword at them.
Even in old age, the sight of his sword blade inspired terror.
"To think you'd evacuate the people like this. I meant to use those lives as seed nutrients... just how did you make such a swift decision?"
Laika muttered something, but the two of them were too shocked to react.
"Well, it doesn't matter. If you're in the way, I'll just kill you."
He swung his sword to cut them down.
Just as the blade filled with killing intent was about to cleave them—
KAAANG!-
the sword was blocked by something, and a fierce sword echo rang out.
Someone had intervened to block his blade.
"Who are you?"
Laika looked at Silia, who had blocked his sword with difficulty, with an intrigued expression.