"Many people have come to visit over the past two days. Gamigin, Vassago, Zepar..."
"Did you think I would remember each and every one of them? Foolish thing. Write it down on paper and give it to me."
"The Minister of State Affairs and the Minister of Military Affairs are also sleeping in the room right next door."
I opened my eyes.
Wind slipped through the gap of the open window. It lingered on my cheek for a moment before drifting past. I unconsciously touched my cheek. I examined my palm, but there was no blood.
"What about Paimon's body?"
"It is being strictly guarded with permanent preservation magic. There is still debate over the funeral procedures, but the discussion has been settled on deciding after Demon Lord Sitri returns from the expedition."
"I see..."
"There was also talk of waiting until you had awakened, Father."
Most Demon Lords had no family or relatives.
When a Demon Lord died, the person closest to them would typically serve as chief mourner. In this case, Sitri, who was Paimon's lover, and I would have been the candidates. But Sitri had headed to the battlefield to avenge Paimon, and I had remained unconscious. The other Demon Lords must have been quite troubled.
"Daisy."
"Yes, Father."
"Sing me a song."
Daisy blinked.
Daisy was famously known for her beautiful voice. In the past, when she had journeyed through Frank, she had been praised by mercenaries for possessing the voice of an angel. Even in the Demon Lord's Castle, Daisy would sometimes sing quietly to herself—it was probably one of her few hobbies, alongside reading.
I had never once asked her to sing. That must be why Daisy was surprised.
"...Please let me cry."
After a moment, Daisy opened her small lips.
I closed my eyes once more as I listened to its song.
Many people came in and out of my bedroom.
The first to burst in were, if it could even be called "expected," Laura and Lapis.
The moment Laura saw me, she burst into tears and threw herself onto my bed. "My lord is such an idiot!" and "You fool!" — she hurled a stream of childish insults without any order. I gave a bitter smile and patted Laura on the head.
"......"
Lapis was far more difficult to deal with than Laura. She simply stared at me in silence. It was a kind of silent protest — why didn't you tell me beforehand instead of doing everything on your own? I felt bad toward Lapis. But this was the one matter I wanted to take entirely upon myself.
Almost every Demon Lord came to visit me in bed. Thanks to that, even though I wasn't particularly hurt, I had no choice but to lie in bed for days on end.
For the record, the funniest visitor of all was Vassago.
"Tch."
Vassago stepped into the bedroom, took one look at my face, then immediately turned around and left. Truly immediately. So the only words Vassago left behind were the sound of clicking his tongue — "Tch." I had no idea why he'd even bothered to visit.
Elder Brother Beleth brought me shocking news about the Demon Realm.
"Every last Demonkin living in the Ulbalajok region is being slaughtered, regardless of race or rank."
"......Sitri is doing the slaughtering?"
It was none other than Sitri who was indiscriminately killing civilians.
"The rebel lords' territories already surrendered long ago. With their dukes dead and no leaders left, what resistance could they possibly put up?"
"Surely they wouldn't still be killed after surrendering?"
"Oh, I tried to stop it, but it was no use."
Elder Brother Beleth shrugged.
Beleth was not particularly humanitarian in temperament — if anything, he was the type who preferred slaughter. For even Beleth to say he'd had to try to stop it, the scale of indiscriminate, merciless violence must have been beyond anything I could fathom.
"They were using some outrageous methods, let me tell you. First, they dig a long, straight trench. Then they line up the Demonkin in rows of ten in front of the trench."
"Buried alive?"
"Buried alive is what it was, sure enough."
Elder Brother Beleth gave a thin smile.
"They hand weapons to the people in the back row and order them to stab the people in the front row."
"Excuse me?"
"Once the entire first row of Demonkin is killed and tumbles into the trench, the second row takes their turn. The weapons pass to the people behind them and the whole thing repeats — told to stab the backs of the people standing right in front of them."
In short, they forced civilians to kill civilians.
"There were countless Demonkin who broke down crying, saying they couldn't do it. Sitri himself tore those ones limb from limb. Your choice: die quietly, or die having your limbs ripped off. *Sigh*."
"......"
"Eventually the Demonkin would go sobbing to the person in front, saying *I'm sorry*, saying *I'm sorry I have to do this*, saying *please forgive me, I'll be dead soon anyway* — and then drive the blade in. The person in front would turn around and sob to the person behind that it was all right, and on it went...... It was absolutely horrific."
The number of civilians rounded up: a full hundred thousand.
The city where the Grand Duke of Ulabala had been staying was turned into a literal wasteland, and massive quantities of salt were scattered across the earth so that nothing would ever grow there again.
All the while.
While tens of thousands of Demonkin were being slaughtered for no reason other than having lived there.
"He didn't have any expression at all."
Sitri wore no expression whatsoever.
As though every muscle in his face had simply vanished.
As though he had forgotten the very concept of expression.
So extreme that even the Demon Lords — most of whom suffered from mental disorders of their own — found him to be a fanatic, Sitri simply heaped slaughter upon slaughter.
"In the end, everyone was completely fed up with Sitri. Most of them couldn't even last two days before coming straight back here. Well, truthfully, the war was over from day one."
Brother Beleth picked an apple from the mountain of fruit piled beside my bed and crunched into it with a crisp bite.
"What Sitri's doing in the Demon Realm right now isn't war — it's plain murder. You know this as well as I do, little brother, but I'm a madman of war, not a cold-blooded killer. There's no reason for me to participate in a massacre devoid of all aesthetics or meaning, so I cleanly packed up and came back."
Sitting there chewing his apple, Brother Beleth remarked that Sitri would probably go down in history as the Demon Lord who had slain more Demonkin than any other.
"The funniest part is that Sitri insisted she'd finish exactly when she hit one hundred thousand. Let me see — what was it — when I left yesterday, she'd only killed around ninety-five thousand-something, so she was still a little short."
Brother Beleth let out a scoff.
"The thing about madmen is, the more unhinged they get, the more obsessively they fixate on petty details like numbers. They want to attach a reason to every single one of their insane acts. Understand, little brother? It's an obsession. Tsk, tsk — that woman is done for now. She's gone too far."
"……."
Sitri returned two days after completing her expedition.
The Crescent Alliance Army — which had, for the first time ever, turned its spear tip not toward the continent but toward the Demon Realm — saw the war end in less than ten days. It laid bare what happens when Demonkin betray a Demon Lord. In just a few days, Sitri had transformed into the very embodiment of a cruel and ruthless Demon Lord.
The first person Sitri sought out upon her return was me.
"I'm back, Dantalion."
Sitri smiled brightly.
There was not a trace of the expressionless slaughterer Brother Beleth had described. As always, an innocent, guileless woman stood before me.
"I killed a lot of them. A whole lot. Mm, I know Big Sister Paimon wouldn't like it... Big Sister's kind like a fool, so she wouldn't like it, but... I just couldn't forgive them."
"……."
"Dantalion... did I do the right thing?"
I pulled Sitri into a wordless embrace.
Sitri had done exactly what needed to be done.
Paimon, who had been leading the Mountain Faction all this time, was gone. The Mountain Faction was on the verge of splitting apart. In a crisis like this, what binds a group together is a bold — even excessively decisive — act.
When we are angry, this is what terror looks like. Do not underestimate us. Submit to our power…….
This was how you restored a group's pride and identity. Sitri had acted impeccably as the heir who would succeed Paimon.
Slaughtering exactly one hundred thousand was also the right move. One Demon Lord had died, and one hundred thousand traitors had been cut down — neatly summarized. It was a massive massacre, but it also conveyed the impression of "calculated" retaliation.
"Sitri. You need to lead the Mountain Faction from now on. Don't worry. I'll help you. I'm sure the two of us can handle this together."
"Yeah... I'll try..."
Sitri shed tears on my shoulder.
—It was only later that I learned the truth.
Sitri hadn't truly recovered her composure. She only smiled and chattered cheerfully like the old days when she was alone with me. The moment anyone else was around, her face would go blank, as though she had become an entirely different person.
No — she really had become a different person.
To Sitri, Paimon had been that significant.
It was just that Sitri saw me as being in the same situation. The person who lost Paimon wasn't alone — Dantalion was in the same boat. Perhaps you could call it a sense of camaraderie. That was why she could only smile the way she used to when it was just the two of us……
"Then let us convene Walpurgis Night."
The very next day, every Demon Lord gathered for a meeting.
Along with postwar matters, this meeting addressed three critically important agenda items. The first was slavery — the root cause of all the incidents that had erupted. Normally, multiple Demon Lords would have noisily debated the agenda, but this meeting proceeded faster than ever before.
"I put forth the proposal to abolish slavery regardless of race. Everyone, please cast your votes."
Six in favor.
One abstention.
"With this, we officially declare the complete abolition of slavery."
For the first time since the recording of history began, slavery was formally eliminated. In practice, countless trials and errors would follow before slavery truly disappeared, but that was fine. I was confident.
This wasn't just about the Habsburg Empire and the Demon Realm. Every continent would abolish slavery. I had already sworn to make it so, and I declared with absolute certainty that no force existed capable of interfering with my oath.
Those who resist will simply be eliminated.
The lives lost so far through my hand, whether directly or indirectly, had reached four hundred thousand.
Changing four hundred thousand to four million wouldn't bring me down.
"Next. Regarding the motion to grant the heroes who led the charge in executing the traitors — seven Grand Dukes including Grand Duke Doksa — the territories formerly held by the traitorous faction. Everyone, please cast your votes."
Six votes in favor.
One abstention.
"Hereby, it is declared that the number of those eligible to bear the title of Grand Duke in the Demon Realm is permanently restricted to seven."
All of the Grand Dukes who ruled the Demon Realm were now in a firm alliance with me. I now wielded powerful influence not only over the Empire, but over the Demon Realm as well.
"And the final motion."
"Regarding the motion to have the Elector of Mainz, Sitri, concurrently hold the position of Grand Duke of Luxembourg, which has become vacant in the Elector vote. Everyone, please cast your votes."
Six votes in favor.
One abstention.
"Hereby, it is declared that Elector Sitri of Mainz shall concurrently hold the position of Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Grand Chamberlain of the Empire, and shall possess the exceptional right to cast two votes in all future ballots."
I transferred the Elector position that Paimon had held to Sitri. This simultaneously granted a special exception to the Mountain Faction while preemptively preventing the Mountain Faction's power from flowing to any Demon Lord other than Sitri.
I looked at Sitri.
Sitri nodded and rose from her seat.
She went and sat down in a chair that no one had claimed — the chair Paimon had been sitting in. Sitri's own chair was lifted away by a servant who approached and carried it off somewhere.
"With this, tonight's Walpurgis Night is adjourned. Comrades, thank you for your service."
…….
……… .
The meeting ended.
I was sitting in the back garden of the imperial palace.
For the past few days, I had slept to my heart's content. I figured it would be fine not to sleep for just one day. In the back garden of the imperial palace, there was a rectangular artificial pond shaped like a swimming pool, and I placed a chair in front of it, sitting there quietly drinking.
At my feet, seven empty glass bottles lay scattered. The Demon Lord's body was convenient. No matter how much I drank, I couldn't get drunk easily. Lapis had advised me to quit drinking as well, but to have a body like this and not enjoy alcohol would be a sin deserving divine punishment.
Thud.
Someone set a chair down beside me. It was Barbatos.
Barbatos sat down and silently extended his glass toward me. I, too, wordlessly poured wine for Barbatos.
"......"
"......"
We drank for hours, gazing at the moonlight reflected on the water's surface. Not a single word was exchanged. What was there left for us to talk about at this point?
Among the Demon Lords I was acquainted with, Barbatos was the only one who hadn't come to visit me in the hospital. Naturally, Barbatos was keenly aware that he had no right to use visiting the sick as an excuse to enter my bedchamber.
Perhaps three hours had passed since this gathering—one that could hardly even be called a drinking party.
That was when Barbatos finally opened his lips.
"Dantalion. Do you still like me?"
It was an utterly clumsy line.
I pulled my lips away from the glass.
"I love you."
Slowly, I drank a glass of wine. I felt the red liquid settling in my stomach. The glass was emptied in no time.
"As much as I love myself."
============================ Author's Notes ============================
— Chapter <The Dripping Night> END.