Elisabeth von Habsburg, the Third Imperial Princess, was bored.
She had already lost all real power in the Human Alliance. The Habsburg Imperial forces were not particularly numerous, and the dukes dispatched from other nations had subtly disregarded the young princess.
She already knew the ceasefire agreement was a lost cause. So even now, with two hundred thousand troops facing each other across the field, she simply waited for the war to reach some rough conclusion. The allied nations were still sending reinforcements. The human army would manage to repel this Crescent Alliance Army too, one way or another.
The war itself was important, but the post-war settlement mattered more. She wondered what absurd justifications the other nations would bring to the table.
They would no doubt swagger about having come to the rescue of the Habsburg Empire—when in reality they had been the ones who forced Habsburg to become the battlefield simply because they didn't want to fight on their own soil. Jackals, every last one of them! Elisabeth felt her heart turn cold.
Just then, a colossal figure was projected onto the plain.
It was a slender man. He had clearly come out to deliver the customary speech. Elisabeth sighed. She herself had been chosen as the representative speaker for the human forces.
A figurehead representative speaker who wielded absolutely no real authority… This man was probably in the same boat. The princess felt a twinge of pity for his situation.
She could already predict what he would say. The Demon Lord's army is powerful. Humanity is weak. Surrender quietly. That was always the shape of the Crescent Alliance's representative speeches throughout the historical records. Humanity was foolish, but not so stupid as to be routed by a mere speech. It was nothing but a waste of time…
— Humanity. Hear me.
So when the man opened his mouth to speak—
— All of history, until now, has been the history of class struggle.
The princess could not help but tilt her head. What on earth was that supposed to mean?
The man's voice echoed across the vast plain.
— There are two wars in this world. One is the war between humanity and the Demon Lord's army. But do you know of a war even more tenacious than that—one that has raged for the past two thousand years without a single day of rest?
The man's voice was crisp and measured. There was no tension in it, yet it carried authority; no exaggeration, yet it commanded trust. His voice had a cadence that held people's ears with an almost magical pull.
"What peculiar things he's saying."
"No matter what he babbles, humanity's unity is an iron fortress."
The generals nearby murmured among themselves. The speech was quite different in form from what they had expected. Most of all, the content was strange. A war rivaling the Crescent Alliance Army? They had never learned of such a thing, never even heard of it.
Princess Elisabeth showed interest without realizing it.
"Oh."
What was this man trying to say?
A spark returned to her eyes. The Princess enjoyed it when situations deviated from her expectations, and she liked it even more when they surpassed them.
─ In short, it is an eternal great war.
The man's voice rang out, piercing the murmur.
─ Compared to that, the war between the human army and the Demon Lord's army looks laughable! The Crescent Alliance Army wars have happened only eight times in two thousand years, but that great war happens every year, every month, every day, and every single moment……"
He called out the names one by one.
The free men and the slaves.
The nobility and the commoners.
The barons and the serfs.
The oppressors and the oppressed.
─ Yes. This is the eternal war. Even if the Crescent Alliance Army were to disappear from the continent, you would still fight. Two thousand years have passed on the continent, and another two thousand could pass, yet class struggle, only class struggle, will never change. Listen, all you who are oppressed in this world.
The man cried out vividly, as if the soldiers were right before his eyes.
─ Two thousand years ago, the Crescent Alliance Army marched onto the continent for the first time. That day, the rulers of the ancient republic cried out for the preservation of all humanity. Selflessly, your ancestors sacrificed their lives to fight for the preservation of all humanity. Yet when the war ended, the slave was still a slave, and the serf was still a serf.
─ Eighteen hundred years ago, the Crescent Alliance Army marched onto the continent for the second time. That day, the emperor of the ancient empire commanded humanity to stand and protect itself. Your ancestors once again sacrificed their lives, and miraculously, they prevailed. Yet when the war ended, the slave was still a slave, and the serf was still a serf.
─ Fifteen hundred years ago, the Crescent Alliance Army marched onto the continent for the third time. Your ancestors once again fought against an army of three hundred thousand monsters and won. How amazing! How great you are! Truly, you were the shield that protected humanity, and had it not been for you, the continent would have fallen into our, the Demon Lord's, hands long ago. For thousands of years, you were humanity's protectors. You were the masters of this continent. I consider it an honor to be with you, who have always achieved victory in the history of the continent.
The man clapped. The sudden sound of applause echoed across the plain like drums. The soldiers were visibly bewildered. There was not a trace of mockery in the man's expression or voice.
─ Fifteen hundred years have passed. Now, we have come to this land for the eighth time. But what has happened?
The man stopped gesturing and suddenly spoke.
─ Masters of the continent. Guardians of humanity. You remain slaves, serfs, commoners—the weakest of the weak, starving to death and dying of plague. What has become of you? What exactly did you sacrifice your lives for?
At that moment, Princess Elisabeth shot up from her seat. She grasped the man's intent immediately. The curiosity and fascination that had filled her gaze vanished without a trace. She simply parted her lips and stared at the man's enormous projection with eyes brimming with shock.
The princess quickly regained her composure. Then she shouted at the mages around her who had been preparing the magic circle.
"Activate the magic right now!"
"Y-Your Highness?"
"What did I say? I said activate it immediately!"
The old man who had been softly chanting the spell furrowed his brow as though troubled.
"I humbly apologize, but this is large-scale magic that requires more time. There are still approximately fifteen minutes remaining."
"Fifteen minutes…"
The princess clutched her head. This wouldn't do! Ten minutes would be more than enough time for the man to finish his entire speech. Then everything—truly everything—would be too late!
Having the representative speaker go after the opposing side was more advantageous, so they had prepared at their leisure. That was the fatal miscalculation. The human forces had only begun forming their magic circle after watching the Demon Lord's army deliver their speech. Whether they knew of the princess's anxiety or not, the mages continued their chanting in accordance with the delicate and rigorous procedures.
Over it all, the man's voice spread like distant thunder.
─ You surely protected the continent. But that continent was the very same continent it had been before the war, and it had not changed one bit after. You are still poor. So poor that even when your parents groaned and died of the Black Death, you could not so much as purchase a single herb used as medicine. What was the fight for? What was the sacrifice for? Did you give your lives for two thousand years just to defend your own poverty?
─ It can never have been so.
─ Humanity, this is the truth. The leaders of republics, the emperors of empires, the aristocrats who scream about humanity—you are not included in that humanity. The continent that the aristocrats cry out to protect does not include you. They never wanted to protect the people's wealth and land; they only ever wanted to protect their own riches.
─ What your ancestors bled and sweated to defend was, absurdly, not their own but someone else's—the property of the aristocrats. So it is only natural that you remain poor even after the war ended! The aristocrats are still aristocrats, and the commoners are still commoners. It was you who aided the aristocrats!
The man clenched his right fist.
─ It is deplorable! What manner of beings are aristocrats, you ask? Even when monsters invade a village, the aristocrats do not send knights for your sake. They abandoned you, humanity. Yet when the Crescent Alliance Army draws near, the aristocrats demand your sacrifice. For the sake of humanity!
─ Even when the Black Death ravages a village, the aristocrats do not bestow Black Herb for your sake. They abandoned you, humanity. Yet when the Crescent Alliance Army draws near, the aristocrats demand your sacrifice. For the sake of humanity!
─ Even in a famine, the aristocrats do not reduce your taxes. Even as your fields dry up and your sons and daughters die from lacking even a crumb of bread. Even though the reservoirs are full of water, the aristocrats will never, ever relinquish their water rights for your sake. They abandoned you, humanity. Yet when the Crescent Alliance Army draws near, the aristocrats demand your sacrifice.
─ For the sake of humanity!
─ Now it is clear what the aristocrats mean by humanity. The humanity they speak of is none other than humanity in the name of aristocrats. The continent they speak of is nothing more than land owned by aristocrats.
─ Humanity for whose sake? Humanity for the sake of the oppressors alone. A war for whose sake? A war solely for the preservation of oppression. Two thousand years for whose sake? You have been dying for a thousand years, and then another thousand, all to pass down your own poverty—how laughable!
─ Humanity. Not the humanity the aristocrats have called into being with their sweetened lies, but you—the commoners, the peasants, the serfs, the slaves, those who have truly shed blood and sweat. You, the true masters of this continent! Something has gone terribly wrong. Are you truly slaves? The true masters of this continent are you—and could it not be said that the aristocrats are the parasites who live by feeding on your blood?
"What utter nonsense!"
"Curse that damned Demon Lord!"
At those words, the surrounding generals flew into a fury. They bellowed one after another, shaking their fists at the sky.
Princess Elisabeth, rather than hurling curses into the empty air, coolly surveyed the crowd. A chill ran down her spine. The soldiers… the soldiers were staring blankly at the man!
─ Why is it that the grain you harvest is seized not by you but by the aristocrats? Why do the aristocrats not harvest the food they eat with their own hands? Is it because they are the masters? If so, then when monsters invade the village, why does the lord of that village—the aristocrat—not take up arms himself?
─ The reason is simple. Because the village does not belong to the aristocrats.
─ Naturally, the village belongs to you who live in it—that is, to the people. The aristocrats merely plunder what belongs to the people. In short, there is no difference whatsoever between the monsters that invade the village and the aristocrats. Both are thieves coveting your property. A thief would never guard a house on behalf of its owner. Therefore, the aristocrats do not protect you.
─ The aristocrats only plunder you. They eat the grain you harvest, live in the houses you build, and wear the clothes you make. How did such parasite-like creatures come to exist among humanity? How has this absurd situation persisted for the past two thousand years?
─ Because, humanity, they possess military force! There is no other reason whatsoever.
─ When you fail to pay your taxes, the very knightly order that never came no matter how desperately you longed for it when monsters invaded comes crashing in. In short, they will tolerate another thief ransacking your house, but they absolutely cannot forgive being unable to ransack it themselves.
─ When you rightfully protest that this grain is yours, this house is yours, and these clothes are yours, those parasites and thieves invariably resort to force. That is correct. The only reason the aristocrats can continue to exist as parasites is because they alone hold military power.
─ Humanity, hear me.
─ What, then, must you do to protect what is yours?
─ What must you do to reclaim what is yours from the hands of thieves?
The generals' roars grew even more violent. Conversely, an ominous silence hung over the ranks of soldiers. The Princess questioned the magician whether fifteen minutes had truly passed, but Elisabeth already felt it in her heart—it was too late……
─ That is correct! There is no choice but to fight force with force!
The man shouted.
— Raise your spears! Take up your bows! Let what is yours be what you cultivate! Make things work the way they naturally should! Don't be fooled any longer into believing you are slaves! You are the masters of this land! So everything that comes from this land rightfully belongs to you!
— Fight!
— No one will reclaim what is yours on your behalf. So you have no choice but to rise up yourselves.
— Fight!
— No one will live your life for you. So you have no choice but to carve out your own lives.
— Fight!
— Mankind! What are the people? Everything! Only you can rightfully call yourselves humanity. For two thousand years of history, what has the people been? Nothing! But from this very moment onward, what must you — the singular, irreplaceable humanity — become?
— Everything!
— I, Dantalion, one Demon Lord and representative of the Crescent Alliance Army, hereby declare: we shall join your war as eternal allies! The people of the Habsburg Empire's northern provinces already stand with us in this cause.
— You are being deceived. We kill nobles, not the common folk. We have distributed the Black Herb to every last person in the northern provinces of the Habsburg Empire. To every single one. We slew the monsters that had broken free of our control for the sake of the people, and demanded nothing in return. In the north of the Habsburg Empire today, there are no taxes.
— A land without taxes. Can you not feel that this is what paradise truly is?
— In our Crescent Alliance Army, humans and monsters do not live in enmity. They coexist. You build your villages, the monsters build their settlements, and neither encroaches upon the other's domain as all live in peace. Can you not feel that this is what paradise truly is?
At last the magician reported that the magic circle was fully prepared. But the Crown Princess stood there motionless, her face buried in her palm. ……It was already too late.
From this point on, she would have to declare before everyone as the representative speaker that every word that man had just spoken was a lie. But the seeds of doubt had already been planted deep within the ranks of the imperial troops. What kind of humanity were they fighting for? What kind of war was this…? If the battle turned even slightly unfavorable, the conscripted divisions would quickly lose morale and rout. Some among them might even surrender to the Demon Lord's army……
"……He said his name was Dantalion, I take it. What an absurd character to appear among the Demon Lord's forces."
The Crown Princess murmured to herself.
From afar, the man continued his eloquent address.
— Paradise is never far away. This very moment is when you reclaim the land deeds you were always meant to hold. This is the moment to step out of the dark and desolate valley of lies and onto the sunlit path of justice. This is the moment to open the door of opportunity for all of God's children — for you and for your children to come.
— Sing of justice. Everyone, rage on behalf of everyone, through everyone. Remind the nobles who the true masters were all along. That song must become a vow that you will never again fall from masters into slaves. When you raise your war cry and stand your spears straight and tall, only then shall the brilliant life known as tomorrow truly begin.
— We despise the slave who pretends to be a master. We honor those who are true masters, and we long to live together as masters. Make the ruling classes tremble before the people's revolution. You have nothing to lose in this revolution but your false chains. You have a world to gain, everything to gain.
— Humanity, fight!
============================ Afterword ============================