The Magic Academy's Physicist
Chapter 274: The Demon King (4)

Chapter 274: The Demon King (4)

0% “Sire?”

At the unexpected words, Gilach sensed that something was off.

Was he perhaps trying to hold him liable regarding Winter?

There was nothing he could think of that would get him, but he felt uneasy for some reason.

“Ah, that’s right. Bring that crow-beaked man next to you. There is something I have to see to.”

“...Yes, Your Majesty.”

Gilach feigned calmness for now.

“Do not worry, sir. Our lord must have recognized your military presence and is trying to assign you a secret mission.”

“You think?”

Entero’s explanation rather made sense.

Of course.

It was nonsense that their sovereign King would have him be collectively responsible. In the first place, Winter and he were not of the same caliber.

Gilach squared his shoulders and went up to the altar.

“Gilach of Summer, and next to him is....”

“I am Entero Colitica, Quintus of the Great Nine Mechas, Your Majesty.”

Entero offered respectfully.

“I’ve never seen you before.”

“Yes, sire, I am a new recruit who just joined the army about the time you were sealed.......”

“I see.”

The Demon King chuckled and looked over Entero carefully.

“And what is your ability?”

“I handle pestilence.”

“Indeed, an ability befitting of your appearance.”

The Demon King then asked several questions about Entero, including what his relationship with Summer Heaven was.

“If Winter Heaven has Rosemary, then Lord Summer has myself.”

“I see. Then....”

Even as he answered, Entero wasn’t able to read the Demon King’s mind.

It’s not bad.

Still, he thought what was good was good, and decided that it wouldn’t hurt him.

It seemed he had been noticed due to standing next to Gilach. Switching course from Spring Heaven to Summer Heaven had been the best decision.

Now he’d be able to occupy a decent position. At least Quartus.... No, since Akasha was also gone, he’d receive a position equivalent to Secundus. And not a position appointed by someone else, but by the King himself.

And as he was starting to get ahead of himself–

“By the way, did you know?”

Clasp.

The Demon King put his hand on Entero’s shoulder and continued.

“Even a person without legs can watch a race.”

“......?”

“It is the same for myself. Even while sealed, I could infer what was going on in the world.”

Squeeze.

The King’s hand grasping his shoulder tightened subtly.

Entero felt both pain and disconcertment.

“Tell me.”

“......What... do you mean?”

“Tell me honestly.”

He didn’t understand why the King was acting like this all of a sudden. Glittering gold eyes gradually filled with fear.

He couldn’t understand. What in the world had he done wrong? Nothing came to him no matter how much he racked his brain.

“I truly do not know what this is about.”

“Is that so?”

The Demon King twisted his neck grotesquely, shrugging his shoulders.

“My mind’s eye shows me that the first line of defense, which had been maintained for hundreds of years, was breached. How did those inferior humans manage this?”

“......?”

“The answer is simple. Winter must have created a high-level magic and given it to them.”

It was a correct deduction. The Beasts who had been present at the time fell silent.

“In such a situation, the military manual says to strike the rear using biochemical tactics. Did you officials follow the manual?”

“We did.”

“Who is the one in charge of the biochemical unit?”

“......!”

Hearing these words from their King, the eyes of the Beasts went wide.

“I-it would be me, sire.”

Entero cautiously raised his hand. The pustule-like eyes of the Demon King glowed deeply.

“Why don’t you explain, why those wretched bastards are wandering around our front yard like it’s their home.”

“......Th-that’s–”

Squeeeeze.

The Demon King dug his thumb in and shattered Entero’s collarbone.

“Arrghhhh!”

As his clavicle was crushed, he lost all strength in his arms.

The Demon King grabbed Entero’s throat and slowly lifted him, and the gazes of the Beasts also slowly followed.

“I am pleased, that you are willing to become nourishment for your king who has just awoken.”

“......!”

Squeeeze.

“I will acknowledge your contribution, and will turn a blind eye to your past transgression.”

“Urg-guuuhh.”

He tried to resist reflexively, but his limbs didn’t listen.

The crow beak that had been a mask as well as a part of him twisted, and his whole body turned cold as a corpse buried in the snowy mountains.

“I will purge this traitor myself.”

Snap. 쩌억.

The jaws of the King opened.

Jǫrmungandr was unable to hold back her shock at the sight of her own kind being consumed. Meanwhile, Spring Heaven was smirking even as he dripped with sweat.

It was the same for the other Beasts.

A high-ranking figure like Quintus of the Great Mechas had been eaten. By no one else but the Demon King.

It was a fresh yet unpleasant kind of shock. The fledglings had to bow their heads in trembling.

What in the world is this....

The one who was most stunned was Gilach.

How long had it been since Entero switched over to him to become his servant and now this happened?

Although Gilach was highly favored by the King, he didn’t have much of a faction due to his cruel nature. Compared to Pasmo who was trusted overall or Jǫrmungandr who was guardian of the entire beastkin, he was no match.

He had just been enjoying the fact that he was finally able to gain a high-ranking loyal subordinate.

With the way things were going, wouldn’t he be the next target?

“Summer.”

Clasp.

This time, the Demon King’s hand landed on Gilach’s shoulder.

“......!”

Gilach turned into stone on the spot.

Tap, tap–the Demon King lightly patted Gilach’s shoulder. Then he fixed up his clothes and dusted the dirt off his shoes.

Gilach was about out of his mind with nerves.

Ane eventually, the Demon King spoke.

“I appoint you as the general of the naval forces. I will give you the entire mobile and amphibious task force, so that you can strike directly the elf country’s capital through the first island chain.”

“......?”

“Answer.”

“Y-yes, Sire.”

Gilach nodded his head desperately. It all happened so suddenly that he couldn’t make sense of the situation.

“Anyway, this is a good ability.”

The Demon King called upon poisonous spiders, snakes, mosquitoes and the like from his skeletal hand, abilities that had all come from having absorbed Entero.

“He was a commendable fellow. Isn’t that so, Summer?”

“...Pardon? Yes, yes, sire.”

“Good.”

After patting Gilach on the shoulder, the Demon King stepped down from the altar.

One by one, the Beasts who had been watching warily as soon as he descended began to bow their heads. Looking down at this sight, Gilach understood why the King had preyed on Entero.

Discipline has been properly established.

Since old times, there had been many traitors in the Demon Army.

It had been a frequent thing–when their powers would grow even a little, they would declare themselves the new leader of the Golden-Eyed and try to dethrone the current King.

And each time, the King would carry out a purge in this way, the idea being preventing the sparks of rebellion from growing by example.

For now, I’m alive.

Relieved for the moment, Gilach followed him down the altar.

Under the circumstances, there were two reasons as to why the King had spared him.

One. There would soon be a war.

Two. Because he was truly loyal.

There would soon be a great war against the Goddess, so who but he, a loyal subject, would take charge of the navy and spearhead the invasion of the Elemental Realm? The King also knew this, hence deliberately stopping short of cutting off his limbs.

If he, too, had made a mistake, he could have ‘been an example’.

I shouldn’t even dream of committing treason.

It was the moment when his already deep loyalty grew even more.

“Report the current situation.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Afterwards, the Demon King absorbed all information in an instant. His subordinates were stunned once again by the demonic speed at which he did this.

“Summer.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Get to work.”

After all the work was done, the Demon King sent Gilach away and called Jǫrmungandr to his side.

Jǫrmungandr followed behind the Demon King with a sour expression. The two walked the corridors of the Iron Formations without saying anything for a while.

“Autumn.”

The Demon King was the first to speak.

“This is a private space.”

“.......”

“There is no one watching so you may speak comfortably.”

Jǫrmungandr wrestled for a while before opening her mouth.

“...Why did you consume Quintus?”

The ancient dragon Jǫrmungandr had known the Demon King long before he was called that.

Although her loyalty may not be as strong towards the Demon King, they were close in a sense. As such, they’d occasionally forgo formalities in private.

However, she still couldn’t understand the person of Parcelsus despite knowing him for a long time.

And it was no different this time.

“This one cannot see Quintus as having done any wrong.”

“Do you think that I killed someone innocent?”

“If I do?”

What crime had that crow committed?

No matter how she thought about it, the jump in logic was too much. To think that having stopped spreading the plague halfway during the Black Death incident was considered a betrayal.

Jǫrmungandr frowned and demanded an explanation.

“Yes, technically he wasn’t guilty.”

The Demon King chuckled and gave an unexpected response.

“Although he wasn’t guilty of anything, one must kill such a person to maintain power.”

“......?”

“How naive.”

The Demon King’s neck twisted grotesquely.

“Power comes from strength. If one is strong, then they won’t be betrayed. However, there are those who forget that unless you show it to them. You never know when they could stab you in the back so I simply took action before that could happen.”

“You killed first, because they might betray you...?”

Horrified, Jǫrmungandr halted her feet.

“This one has lived for a thousand years and hundreds more, yet I’ve never seen someone as distrusting as you.”

“Is that so?”

Whatever Jǫrmungandr said, the Demon King just let it go out the other ear.

And because of this aspect, she didn’t have much loyalty despite having known him for this long. If not for the fact that he said he’d protect the persecuted beastkin, she would not have gone along with him like this.

And even if that weren’t the case, she couldn’t leave the Demon Army. This was a promise that Jǫrmungandr had made to herself–a promise that she would never show despicable behavior as a noble dragon.

“You see, Jǫrmu.”

Click.

Opening the door to the atomic bomb production facility, the Demon King twisted his neck and look at Jǫrmungandr.

Dozens of gold eyes like stars embedded on a black canvas turned towards her.

“Even if I betray others first, I cannot let another betray me.”

“.......”

Jǫrmungandr again chose silence.

The Demon King entered the bomb production facility. He looked around the place with Tertius Wilhelm’s guidance, then nodded at the completed atomic bomb.

“So this is Dark Day?”

“Everyone in the castle has seen Winter... Aether testing its power so it must be.”

Everyone was stepping on eggshells around the Demon King because a high-ranking official had been eaten, and Wilhelm was no different.

If you offend the Demon King, you’ll be eaten.

After listening to Wilhelm, the Demon King let out a noise.

“There is a possibility that this isn’t Dark Day.”

The Demon King knew from the moment he first picked up Aether.

Aether, Winter Heaven, had no ordinary mind. Whatever magic one could think of, she would be able to show something beyond that.

“Your Majesty! With all due respect, this monstrosity destroyed the World Tree replica and evaporated Octavus Leviathan along with the second island chain. If a bomb of such magnitude is not the maximum of Winter Heaven’s abilities, then what could it possibly be?”

Although Aether had actually said it wasn’t, those who thought of her as the weakest of the Heavens believed this to be Dark Day.

“I see, is that so.”

The Demon King still seemed doubtful.

“It doesn’t matter. Bring that to me.”

“What will you do with it?”

The Demon King answered as if it was obvious.

“I will eat it.”