"I don't understand what you're saying, Monsieur Bernard."
"How dare you insult me? Hah. You've grown awfully arrogant from Barbatos's favor."
When I deliberately let a fake name slip from my lips, Leraje furrowed his brows. Rather than apologizing for my rudeness, I flatly denied knowing what he meant — no wonder he was furious.
"I smell the stench of rotting pig intestines. Isn't that your arrogance? If you thought that because you had some success in Habsburg, Frank would be the same — that was a foolish misjudgment, young Demon Lord. There are no Demon Lord sanctuaries here, and no Black Mountains!"
"That's why I said I don't understand what you're saying."
The aura Leraje was emitting was fearsome. It was enough to make my eyes tremble. If I hadn't faced countless superior Demon Lords before, my knees would have buckled and I would have thrown myself to the ground on the spot.
"Your Excellency Leraje. As you've pointed out, I am young and don't know many things. But there is one truth I do know."
Yet regardless of the fear my body was feeling, I knew how to wag my tongue — just like an itinerant strategist who had spent his life dealing with kings during the Warring States era.
"Whether it's Habsburg or Frank, wherever it may be, a Demon Lord is a Demon Lord, and a human is a human."
"What?"
"A Demon Lord is the enemy of humans, and humans are the enemy of Demon Lords… Isn't that right?"
Leraje's expression twisted even further.
I was simply smiling like a well-mannered young man.
"To confess, I had been looking forward to meeting Your Excellency Leraje for quite some time. The other Demon Lords of the Plains Faction tended to somewhat dismiss Your Excellency Leraje. But I thought differently. Disrupting the enemy's rear in war is a basic principle of military strategy. It may be just a basic principle, but it's still a basic principle."
"……."
"No one wants to do it. And yet someone absolutely must. It's not conspicuous, and the military achievements are few. The mission Your Excellency volunteered for is of that kind. Surely Your Excellency was faithful to the Demon Lord's original duty and devoted to the Crescent Alliance Army… that's what I thought."
The more my words continued, the calmer Leraje's expression became. I could feel his passion cooling, growing frigid all the way from here.
"But the demeanor Your Excellency showed today was quite disappointing. What is it, that enthusiasm you show for human culture? Humans are our enemies."
"Hmph."
Leraje snorted. His interest had faded. That was the feeling.
"So I'd been wondering who this fellow making such a name for himself was... just a simple 'Demon Lord,' was it?"
Leraje pulled a bottle of wine from a box in the carriage. He popped the cork with his bare hands and began swigging straight from the bottle.
"A simple Demon Lord?"
I spoke with even more nonchalance.
"You've been saying incomprehensible things for a while now."
"You're boring, young Demon Lord. That's what I mean. You shine the harsh light of seriousness and chase away all the subtle shadows and shade of the world, then under the pretense of tidying up, make everything dull and dreary. That, right there, is why I and my comrades in the Plains Faction despise the enemy."
His anger had long since faded. Leraje was looking at me with contempt.
Leraje spoke like an old man, which didn't suit his youthful appearance at all. A handsome man using the manner of speech of the aged — it created a peculiar sort of charm. The Demon Lord before my eyes carried the air of both a young man and an old sage in equal measure.
"Let me ask you something."
Leraje said with a sneer.
"You didn't plunder the territory of Brandenburg, and you even promised the safety and freedom of its people. If you truly thought of humans as nothing but enemies, that would have been an inconceivable notion. Why did you do it?"
"Because our long-cherished aspiration takes precedence over personal feelings."
I replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"If I killed the humans of Brandenburg, it would be satisfying in the moment, but the day we conquer the continent would be that much further away. For the sake of our aspiration, I can endure the filthy stench of humans without complaint."
"Heh heh. Our aspiration, you say..."
Leraje gulped down the wine.
"It's been a while since I've seen a stubborn fool this much like the Plains Faction. No wonder Barbatos keeps you around. How could he not be delighted to have a mutt that barks so enthusiastically on his behalf?"
I wiped the smile from my face and lowered my voice, putting on a serious tone.
"...Your Excellency Leraje. I humbly ask, but were you just now criticizing the Commander?"
"Kahahaha!"
Leraje finally burst out laughing.
"And loyal to your master on top of it! What a spectacle. Why didn't you go bark bark in front of Barbatos himself? Heh heh. To think the Habsburgs were split apart by a fellow like you — that tells me everything I need to know about the state of the continent's central region."
"……."
"Very well. Now I understand why Barbatos sent you to me. With a head that works no better than a child's, even Barbatos must have been at his wit's end."
Leraje now regarded me with a gaze that was half contempt and half pity. Contempt and pity — that meant he had completely written me off.
A faint smile stirred within me.
*He's buying it.*
Over the past few years, dealing with cunning and lecherous Demon Lords, I had come to realize something. Persuading and convincing your opponent was not the be-all and end-all of rhetoric.
There was both tactics and strategy in the art of speech. Even if you lost the battle, you could still win the war. There was no need to impress your opponent. No need to win their favor either.
Play the role of a typical blockhead. Act like a foolish, narrow-minded character. The opponent would simply nod along, thinking, *'So he's that kind of fellow.'*
Once that was in place—
"You there, you said your name was Dantalion. Have you ever spent even a fortnight in a human city?"
"……No, I haven't."
"Heh. Shouting about wiping out humanity without having spent a single fortnight among them — I've never witnessed a clown act quite this grand. It's like declaring you'll summit a mountain range you've never even laid eyes on."
——The opponent believed he held the upper hand.
He felt there was no need to probe further. In his mind, all the reconnaissance was complete.
He didn't think I was strong enough to warrant caution — merely someone who could be dismissed without a second thought. Psychologically, he was now completely exposed and defenseless.
Of course, this couldn't be where it ended.
"……Your Excellency Leraje. That is not what matters in the grand scheme of things."
"The grand scheme? Did you just say the grand scheme? Kuhaha. I wonder why it reminds me so much of my childhood."
Leraje laughed so hard that he spilled his wine.
"An arrow I fired carelessly in the past is now driving itself backward into my heart — how truly fascinating. A fellow who doesn't even know himself discussing the grand scheme — that's quite the sight, isn't it? Fine. Go ahead and discuss this grand scheme of yours."
"As you are aware, our Demon Lord's forces are once again on the brink of internal strife."
I spoke, projecting an air of having been deeply wounded by Leraje's contempt yet barely holding it together. Leraje noticed it, too, and kept a mocking smirk on his lips the entire time.
It probably looked like a child trying desperately hard. For Leraje, there couldn't be anything more entertaining than this.
Here he was, suffering alone on the frontier. Back at the center, some unheard-of rookie Demon Lord was making a name for himself. And when he looked into who it was, the guy turned out to be blindly faithful to the childish dichotomy that humans are evil and demons are good.
A brat among brats... Mixed in with all the resentment toward the center that had quietly built up over the years, Leraje felt as though by mocking me now, he was mocking the entire central establishment.
In terms of visible achievements, he was clearly behind the center. However, when it came to the caliber of a Demon Lord, he was far above them.
The center isn't that impressive. The gains from the 8th Crescent Alliance Army were nothing more than luck... He would be comforting himself subconsciously.
I spoke with a grave expression.
"Your Excellency Barbatos and our Plains Faction shed blood and sweat to conquer Habsburg, yet the other Demon Lords have shamelessly come demanding territorial division. Given Your Excellency Barbatos's temperament, compromise is out of the question. In other words, the Crescent Alliance Army's expedition from this point onward will no longer follow the simple schema of human forces versus Demon Lords."
Leraje glanced over while sipping his wine.
"The problem lies with the human forces. We must keep this in mind. The human forces once cooperated with that despicable Paimon. The human forces and Paimon joined hands to try and drag our Plains Faction into a trap of annihilation..."
I gritted my teeth, as if the mere mention of Paimon's name was enough to enrage me. Even to myself, it was a remarkably convincing performance.
"What does this mean? It means that humans and Demon Lords can readily join hands if it serves their interests. Especially now, when the Demon Lord's forces are divided internally."
"Hmmm..."
"While the Demon Lord's forces are divided, the human alliance remains intact. In the current state, if the Demon Lords invite the human forces in to harm their own kind, then only the humans will reap the benefits. Your Excellency Leraje. The Crescent Alliance Army will fail once again."
Leraje interjected.
"So. What exactly needs to be done to prevent the Crescent Alliance Army from failing?"
"Unifying the Demon Lord's army is a distant dream. If that's the case, then our only option is to make the enemy forces no different from our own. Your Excellency Leraje. We must divide the Human Realm."
"And how exactly do you propose we divide the Human Realm?"
The hint of boredom in Leraje's eyes began to fade.
He was slowly coming to the realization that I was not simply a 'shallow-thinking newcomer.' His assessment had likely shifted to something like 'a newcomer whose thinking is shallow but whose mind works surprisingly well.'
"Next to the Habsburgs, the most powerful nation on the continent is undoubtedly Franc. Thanks to Satan's favor upon us, Franc is currently suffused with the winds of civil war."
"The Empress Dowager has no genuine intention of truly fighting the Emperor."
Leraje declared.
"What mother in this world would want to kill her own son?"
"But the Emperor's thoughts are different… aren't they?"
"……."
Leraje set down the wine bottle.
By now, his impression of me had likely shifted to 'a newcomer whose thinking is shallow but whose mind works surprisingly well, and whose intelligence network is no small matter.' I had been guiding him toward that all along.
"The civil war will happen. The question is how far we expand it. It cannot simply end as a confrontation between royalists and republicans. We need to incite the common people of Franc."
"Incite the common people?"
"The Black Death, famine, and on top of that, lords who have abandoned their duties… The foolish human populace won't be able to hold out any longer."
Leraje ran his fingers through his bangs. It seemed to be a habit that surfaced when he was deep in thought. Okay, I'd remember that going forward.
"What do you mean by lords abandoning their duties?"
"It's simple. I lead a mercenary company with a strong reputation. Your Excellency Leraje, please march your army and attack the territories. At that point, we will respond from within."
"Hmph. So in the end, this is just about seizing the territories. Not even worth considering. The Demon Lord is the enemy of all humanity. This would only provide an excuse for the civil war to be squashed."
I shook my head.
"No, quite the opposite. Forgive me, Your Excellency Leraje, but you will need to be repelled."
"What did you say?"
"Not by the lord's army, but by my mercenary company."
I said.
"The lord cannot handle the Demon Lord's army that the mercenaries defeat. The areas protected by the mercenary company suffer almost no damage, while the areas defended by the lord's forces suffer enormous losses. Trust in the lord will plummet beyond recovery."
"..."
"And if my mercenary company were to leave the territory at that point... can you imagine how the people, whose resentment toward the lord has reached its peak, would react, Your Excellency?"
Leraje fell silent.
He fiddled with his bangs for a long while before speaking.
"Tch, I see. You're saying the brat has real skill, then."
"...You flatter me."
I answered with a look of dissatisfaction. I made it clear that being called a brat bothered me. Of course, my true feelings were the exact opposite. I couldn't care less if he thought I was a brat.
I wouldn't mind if he thought I was an idiot, either. I could endure any insult. What would change if someone called trash exactly what it is? All you need to do is enjoy the nicely set table I've prepared for you.
On his end, he gets to enjoy the psychological advantage. On mine, I achieve my goals. Nobody loses. It's a win-win.
Simply by giving up my pride, everyone walks away happy. If that isn't a brilliant deal, I don't know what is.
Only.
My heart felt cold.
Every time I deceived and humiliated someone overwhelmingly stronger than myself, just to carve out my own place, something wore away a little more. It was the edges of my heart.
That was why I needed Laura and Lapis. I had to have people around me whom I didn't have to act for. When I returned to them, they would smile and tell me I did well... that was enough. I put on a clumsy, brat-like expression, just as before.
============================ Author's Notes ============================
As a note, in this story, "human" refers specifically to humankind, while "person/people" is a general term encompassing both Demonkin and humans alike. After all, when it comes to living a "life," humans and Demonkin are no different.