Previously
Richmond suggests recruiting Giro, a deceased former manager of the Viduk Merchant Group, to handle the territory's finances. Ariella is initially skeptical due to the group's corrupt history with Bivar, but Richmond clarifies that Giro left before the corruption began and was highly respected.
“You’re going to the neighboring Demon King’s territory?”
Once she finished attending to some urgent matters, Ariella went to Ludvic.
“Yes, because Giro’s mausoleum is there.”
“So you’re recruiting a dead person?”
Having heard the reasoning during the leadership meeting not long ago, Ludvic did not pry further.
Even so, he did not look pleased.
‘Is he going to object?’
This would be the first time Ariella had ever left the territory’s borders.
A hunch told her he might oppose the idea under the pretense of danger, so she spoke quickly.
“Richmond has decided to accompany me.”
“Really?”
Ludvic spoke in a dubious tone.
“That land is ruled by Demon King Dellac. Why of all people did it have to be that bastard…?”
Had something happened between him and Demon King Dellac in the past?
Before Ariella could ask, Ludvic spoke.
“…Fine. I agree.”
He caught her off guard with his ready approval.
She had prepared dozens of counterarguments in her head in case he refused, but there was no longer any need for them.
‘Right, after all, this is to save the territory.’
To live a decent life… no, simply to survive.
Even if there were some risk, Ludvic had no reason to stop her.
At any rate, just as she was feeling relieved that he had not pressed for details, Ludvic spoke up.
“Tell Richmond to prepare a carriage for three. I heard there’s one gathering dust in the storehouse.”
“Three people?”
Ariella blinked in surprise.
“Are you planning to send a soldier with us?”
“No. I’m going with you.”
· · ·
Those were words she had not expected.
“Aren’t you busy?”
“In recent weeks, not a single Orc movement has been spotted. It’s strange.”
“I know that as well.”
Whether it was pure coincidence she could not tell, but ever since Bivar was killed, the atmosphere along the borders with the other Demon Kings’ domains had abruptly shifted.
The Orcs, who used to gather at the border to sow terror or slip inside to raid and run, had suddenly turned dead quiet.
Neither Ludvic nor his ministers yet knew why. No one knew when they might strike again, but Ludvic took the opportunity to remain in the castle.
Instead of conducting patrol rounds as he once had, he spent his time assisting Ariella with various tasks.
“I believe now is a good time for me to move in person. If an emergency arises, I can return immediately.”
Ariella tilted her head hesitantly.
“Still, wouldn’t it be better if at least one of us stayed in the castle?”
“If you go, I go with you. That’s a new rule I’ve set.”
Since when had he made such a rule?
Nobody had ever told her about it…
“Don’t tell me you plan to accompany me every time I leave the Demon King’s territory? Always, indefinitely?”
“More precisely, wherever you go, I will follow.”
“And why is that?”
When she had first arrived in the demon realm, he had left her alone for days as if she did not exist.
And now, out of nowhere?
“I’m simply keeping my promise.”
“What promise?”
“Didn’t you say it yourself? To make it impossible for you to be in danger again.”
The surest way to protect Ariella, according to Ludvic, was to stick by her wherever she went. But hearing this, she could not bring herself to be entirely pleased.
‘It’s nice that he wants to protect me, but clinging to me like this and trailing only me… that’s its own heavy burden.’
It seemed what had happened with Bivar truly shook him.
Had it sparked a stronger desire to protect her?
Insofar as that desire came from recognizing her worth, it was a welcome change.
“All right. Let’s go together.”
And on the day the princess, the Demon King, and the skeleton decided to head for the neighboring territory…
Screeech—!
A carriage ground to a halt before them with an ear-splitting shriek. Ariella winced without realizing it.
“At least… it still runs, it seems?”
The carriage was decrepit enough that a little more time would have upgraded it from scrap metal to a historical relic, every inch of it weathered by age.
Groib, the head butler who came out to see them off, spoke with embarrassment in his voice.
“This is the only carriage available in our castle.”
The head butler explained that they had struggled to oil and maintain it after it had been left neglected for so long without use.
“Didn’t the former Demon King use carriages?”
“He preferred to ride his personal mount alone. Even on the day of his passing, he set out from the castle without any guards…”
With that, Ariella heard about the former Demon King’s circumstances for the first time.
‘Ah, just as I thought… he really is gone. But what killed him? Certainly not old age.’
She also wondered about the fate of his mount… Had he taken it with him? Or had they buried it alive alongside him?
Before she could ask any questions, Richmond stepped forward.
“I shall take the reins. I will sit in the driver’s seat, so please make yourselves comfortable inside the cabin.”
At that moment, Ariella assumed Richmond was simply showing deference toward his lord and a guest.
Yet she realized there was another side to the story the moment she stepped inside the carriage. The very first thing to greet her was a foul stench words could hardly describe.
“Ugh! What on earth is that smell?”
The head butler answered in an apologetic tone.
“We cast Cleaning Magic countless times, but to no avail… The odor simply will not fade.”
To make matters worse, the interior trim was riddled with cracks and chips. It looked ready to fall apart completely at the first stray rock in the road.
Even the seats were in a wretched state.
Ariella stared at a dark brown stain of unknown origin, then sighed and sat down, giving up on thinking about it.
‘Ignorance truly is bliss.’
Yet she was startled once more the moment she took her seat.
Her body sank abruptly as if the cushion inside had completely collapsed, to the point where she felt she might punch straight through the floorboards.
“If you are both seated, we shall depart now!”
Richmond called out in a breezy, cheerful voice, having deftly snatched the driver’s seat well clear of the stench.
To reach Demon King Dellac’s lands, they had to cross a rugged mountain pass packed with treacherous bends.
The road, of course, was unpaved, and barely wide enough for a single carriage to squeeze through.
When Ariella leaned her head out the window, she saw a sheer precipice dropping away right beside the wheel. Dizziness struck her instantly, and she quickly pulled her gaze back.
“What if a carriage comes from the opposite direction?”
The narrow path did not even have enough clearance for two carriages to pass each other.
Ludvic answered as if her worries were entirely unfounded.
“Are you expecting visitors? At this hour, heading into our lands? In a carriage?”
His answer was reasonable… and rather pitiful.
“A thoroughly convincing point.”
The mountain landscape rattled before her eyes from the violent shuddering. There was not a shred of comfort to be found in the ride.
“The road is rough, and we’re twisting and turning as if winding around the whole mountain. It feels like a straight line would be so short.”
“There’s no choice but to climb the steep mountain passes. It’s not as if we can bore a straight tunnel through the middle of the mountain, can we?”
The more she saw, the firmer her conviction grew that the location of Ludvic’s territory was abysmal.
Even the Viduk Merchant Group, which used to trade with Bivar, had visited only rarely for this reason.
“At any rate, we’re cutting ties with them. Any caravan that sees this road would turn and run immediately.”
Roads were the arteries of trade.
For the territory to prosper, things could not go on like this.
‘When will we ever repave this road? And with what money?’
After adding road repairs to her list of tasks, Ariella spoke up.
“Right, I meant to ask you earlier, but it slipped my mind.”
“About what?”
Ariella cast about desperately for any topic of conversation.
It was an escape from both the chilling environment outside and an interior that felt filthy enough to taint her very blood if she stayed in it too long.
“Why did you decide to become a Demon King, Ludvic? Looking at it from every angle, your land doesn’t seem like a good place at all.”
The sole advantage of this territory was that it did not border any other Demon King’s lands.
Rugged mountains separated them to the north, granting a defensive edge, and nothing lay to the south since they were already at the southern extreme.
Yet the very terrain that spared them border disputes with their neighbors saddle them instead with the Orc tribes infesting the mountains.
It seemed these harsh conditions had made Ludvic’s domain notorious for its poverty ever since the former king’s reign.
So why, knowing this, had he insisted on becoming its master?
Ludvic let out a faint snort.
“Did I even know what I was doing?”
“You didn’t know what the situation was here? I could tell the state of it the moment I arrived.”
It was baffling. No one with eyes could fail to see such wretchedness.
Ludvic, however, had meant something else.
“I told you before, I lived as a wanderer with nowhere to belong for a long time.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Drifting aimlessly, I ended up in this land a year ago.”
“Pure coincidence, then?”
“Entirely. And as you said, even back then, it was in a terrible state. There wasn’t even anywhere to buy food.”
The inhabitants could barely scrounge enough grain to stave off starvation, let alone sell surplus to strangers. There had been no surplus to begin with.
“So I had to secure my own food.”
“And how did you do that?”
“Remember the river running outside the castle? I went fishing there.”
The place Ludvic mentioned was familiar to Ariella as well.
The river where they had repeatedly tried to build a bridge, only for it to collapse the moment it was finished.
“I sat on the riverbank, focusing on fishing, when suddenly a demon arrived on horseback, completely drunk, and started picking a fight.”
Ludvic said, a contemplative look in his eyes as he looked back on the past.
“I thought he was dead drunk, so I decided to ignore him and walk away, but he started attacking like a madman, as if he had a death wish.”
So Ludvic treated him just as he always did with anyone who threatened him.
Namely, he chopped him up and burned him.
“He had a mighty voice, but his skill was pathetic.”
Even though he had won the fight, Ludvic still regretted it to this day.
He spoke in a low voice tinged with a hint of sorrow.
“I only found out he was the king of this land after I killed him.”
END