Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 343

Zap!

With a flash of light, Lucinil and I returned to the outskirts of the imperial capital.

Before I knew it, Lucinil had transformed from a vampire into a girl with silver hair and blue eyes.

I, too, had reverted from Baalier to my Reinhart form.

“Hmm, is this your disguise?”

“Yes.”

Lucinil looked me up and down in my Reinhart form and crossed her arms. “You look just like your temperament.”

“What?”

“Just saying.”

There was no one around.

Lucinil quietly gazed at the view of the capital. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to the capital.”

“Do you have a place to stay?” I asked.

“Hmm... I was told to find a guy named Count Argon Pontius. Apparently he’ll take care of it somehow.”

It seemed Eleris had entrusted Lucinil’s whereabouts to Sarkegar. I trusted Sarkegar to handle it somehow since he was a capable guy.

Lucinil crossed her arms and fell into thought. “You said you’d be contacting the Black Order soon, right?”

“... Yes.”

“I don’t know how you’ve been managing so far, but from now on, it’s going to be really dangerous. So, if possible, stay within my reach.”

Cantus Magna, and the Black Order...

Indeed, Lucinil was right. Once I started getting involved with these organizations, I would inevitably be thrown into dangerous situations more frequently. Lucinil seemed intent on providing close protection.

“... I need to go to the Temple though.”

“... The Temple?”

I knew this wasn’t the right time to say it.

Compared to the scale of our conversation so far, saying I needed to attend school seemed out of place.

‘But I really do need to go to school! It’s winter break now, but the Vampire Council had scheduled their meeting to coincide with the winter break! The Temple is my priority! Strictly speaking, it’s the most important place for me! In many ways!’

Lucinil tilted her head. “Oh, you... You said you had infiltrated that place, right?”

Apparently, she had heard some things from Eleris.

‘Infiltrated... That doesn’t sound quite right.’

“Drop out. This isn’t the time to continue with it, don’t you think?”

Lucinil stated the obvious, as if wondering why I was playing around when a storm was coming.

It was dizzying to be hit with such a straightforward argument from someone who looked like a little kid, even though she wasn’t actually a kid.

“No, I need to be at the Temple. There are too many matters in there that I’m tied up in and need to take care of...”

“... What? Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Lucinil looked at me, smacked her lips, and then started playing with her lips using her index finger. It felt like she was desperately holding back a string of curses.

“I’m telling you, there’s a reason for all this.”

Honestly, I wasn’t just staying at the Temple on a whim.

Using the pretext of rebuilding the Dark Land, I explained in detail how important it was to build relationships with the influential people at the Temple. I also explained how my classmates were future heirs of the empire, and the influence I had over them.

Lucinil seemed to think I was a lunatic for enjoying life among humans at the Temple while dreaming of rebuilding the Dark Land, but as she listened, she looked more and more convinced.

Lucinil nodded, accepting the explanation that my infiltration of the Temple was to build relationships with the empire’s influential people. “Now that you’ve explained it, it does make sense.”

“It’s very dangerous, but... I suppose it’s not my place to interfere.” Lucinil looked at me with her arms crossed. “If you die stupidly, it’s no loss to me. But Eleris would be sad, so be careful.”

It seemed Lucinil didn’t intend to interfere more than necessary.

If she had dug deeper, she might have realized that there was a different meaning to my life at the Temple due to my relationships with my classmates.

That would have complicated things. Fortunately, though, it didn’t come to that.

“For now, I’ll follow Eleris’s advice and find this Count Argon Pontius she mentioned.”

Lucinil could contact Sarkegar through the Rotary Club when needed. Alternatively, I could ask Sarkegar to summon Lucinil during his regular visits.

For the time being, I parted ways with Lucinil.

Lucinil, the head of Wednesday, was another great mage.

Eleris had said Lucinil was more versatile than herself, but I still didn’t fully understand what that meant.

Lucinil entered the capital first, and I followed after a short while.

Harriet would be researching dimensional magic using the resources of the Imperial Palace’s Magic Department. However, expecting results in just a few days was unrealistic.

I, on the other hand, had made some progress, and considering I had only been away from the capital for a few days, the results were quite significant.

***

“Your Highness, the joint investigation has been concluded, and no traceable evidence was found.”

“Of course.”

Vertus was reading through written reports in the office of the Winter Palace.

The joint investigation by the imperial family and the Order of the Holy Knights into the death of Leverier Lanche had just concluded. The funeral had already been held, but the investigation into the exact nature of the demons that had attacked them had continued.

It was clear that non-human entities were behind the attack.

Most of the bodies were blown apart and charred, but some had been found torn to pieces.

Many seemed to have been killed while fleeing.

Vertus was reviewing images of the battle scene, recorded with flame magic.

Also, though there were no recorded images, there were numerous eyewitness accounts of something in the shape of a demon flying in the night sky.

‘Why did they do such a thing...?’ wondered Vertus.

There were plenty of reasons for demons to attack the Order of the Holy Knights.

It was also presumed that the demons who had orchestrated this attack were the same ones who had previously attacked the Order.

The first time, a powerful mage, a lycanthrope, and a dragon had appeared. Although it was presumed not to be a real dragon, they still didn’t know what kind of demon it was.

During that first attack, they had activated a warp gate and escaped with demon prisoners, but there had been no human casualties back then.

This attack made it clear.

It wasn’t that the demons hadn’t been able to handle the holy knights in that first attack; they had simply chosen not to fight.

In other words, the demons back then had no intent to kill.

This time, though, the attack was filled with murderous intent. Not only were all the holy knights killed, but Leverier Lanche was murdered as well.

Perhaps they hadn’t fought the first time because they’d prioritized the rescue of the prisoners.

Vertus felt his thoughts becoming increasingly tangled.

It wasn’t just one or two things that were suspicious; there were too many strange aspects.

While the use of large-scale destructive magic could be understood, there were numerous eyewitness accounts of a demonic form flying about in the night sky.

‘Why on earth?’

It was as if they were advertising that this was a demon attack.

It would have been better to disguise it as a conflict among humans, but the demon had flaunted its presence by flying in the night sky.

Did the demons know about the Nameless Monastery?

Were they completely unaware of the current situation on the continent?

If they had known, they should have disguised this as a conflict between different human factions rather than flaunting their presence.

Because of these eyewitness accounts of demons, some were starting to suggest that the imperial family or pro-empire factions had disguised the attack as a demon attack in order to cripple the Nameless Monastery and assassinate its leader, Leverier Lanche.

If there had been no eyewitness accounts of demons, this incident would have been a powerful catalyst for the Order of the Holy Knights and the Church of the Five Great Gods to explode in open rebellion.

If the perpetrators had had such information, the attack should not have been carried out in this manner.

If he were leading the remnants of the Dark Land, he would never have handled it this way.

‘They couldn’t have done it just because they’re stupid.’

This was the dumbest thing the demons could have done, as it only benefited the empire.

One should not make the mistake of thinking the remnants were that stupid. It was possible that the attack had been emotionally driven, but everything seemed to align perfectly for the empire.

‘Were they really trying to help the empire? But why?’

There was no reason for them to do so, yet the situation and the resulting events led to the conclusion that the demons had attacked the Nameless Monastery to help out the empire, and had deliberately revealed their presence in the process.

Why would they do that?

Why would the demons take such risks to do something that only benefited the empire?

Seeing this as a mistake by the remnants of demonkind was overly optimistic.

The demons had helped the empire. That conclusion was staring Vertus in the face, but he couldn’t make any sense of it. His thoughts became increasingly tangled. He couldn’t fathom their intentions.

As Vertus furrowed his brow, trying to unravel his thoughts...

“Your Highness...” A subordinate cautiously interrupted the prince’s contemplation, “regarding the other investigation you ordered previously...”

Vertus, deep in thought, furrowed his brow even more.

“Previously? What are you talking about?”

“The... investigation into the silver-haired girl...”

“Oh... that.”

That incident had grown so insignificant that Vertus had completely forgotten about that matter.

As the memory of him blundering and spitting tea in the girl’s face resurfaced, Vertus’s face turned slightly red.

“Hmm, right. Did you find out anything?”

The unidentified silver-haired girl... She bore a slight resemblance to Reinhart, so he had ordered an investigation, wondering if she might be a long-lost sibling of his or something like that.

He had encountered a silver-haired girl who bore a subtle resemblance to his classmate Reinhart and thought they might be family.

He had casually ordered an investigation to find out, but had completely forgotten about it, and being reminded of it made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

Strictly speaking, this was stalking.

The empire belonged to the emperor, and the Crown Prince was one of the prominent heirs to the throne. If it was discovered that the Crown Prince was openly stalking someone, it would lead to a massive uproar.

“We conducted a thorough investigation of the identity registration information of the citizens of the capital...”

If he set his mind to it, the Crown Prince could search the entire capital, if not the whole empire.

“And?”

“There was no information about anyone that matched that description that Your Highness provided.”

“She did say that her silver hair was dyed, so I didn’t expect much...”

Without a detailed montage, it was difficult to match the image registered with Flame Magic during citizen registration with the description from Vertus’s memory.

Silver hair, golden eyes, and a beautiful appearance...

The information he had of her was too vague. Even if she was a citizen of the capital, it would have been difficult to narrow down the search to just one particular individual.

“Because of this dead end, we decided to look into your classmate, Reinhart. We thought we might find something and began from his identity registration information...”

“Hmm, yes, that seems like the most plausible lead.”

Reinhart was from the streets, but his identity was registered with the government. They would be able to trace his place of origin.

However, his subordinate scratched his head awkwardly. “But, Reinhart’s initial registration was only done early last year. We couldn’t find any information prior to that.”

Vertus tilted his head in confusion. “What?”

“That happens sometimes. Those of low birth often live without registering their identity. As you mentioned, those who live as street beggars often have no identity information. Since you mentioned Reinhart was from the streets...”

Reinhart had only registered his identity the previous year. That meant he had lived as an unidentified person until then.

It wasn’t unusual. Indeed, it wasn’t that strange.

However, Vertus had once suspected that Reinhart might be a successor raised by a criminal organization similar to a Thieves’ Guild.

Reinhart had denied it, and although Vertus didn’t believe him, he hadn’t conducted any further investigations.

The subordinate was saying that, since Reinhart had lived as an unidentified person for a long time, tracing his place of birth was practically impossible.

Enough time had passed for Vertus to realize that some of his suspicions about Reinhart were no longer valid.

The Rotary Club, to which Reinhart belonged, wasn’t deeply involved in crime. It was merely an organization of beggars who were now starting to improve their lives through the magic train business.

Reinhart was just a beggar who had been sent to the Temple by the Rotary Club.

He had officially registered his identity early in the previous year, and entered the Temple and enrolled in the Royal Class shortly after registering his identity.

That meant he had only registered his identity in order to enter the Temple. It wasn’t clear if he knew that he would be admitted to the Royal Class or not, but he had officially registered his identity to enter the Temple.

Reinhart was a guy with insight, even if he lacked refinement.

For someone from the streets, he knew how to do a lot of things.

Vertus had roughly assumed that this was because Reinhart had been deliberately raised by a criminal organization, but now he knew that the Rotary Club wasn’t heavily involved in crime.

The Rotary Club was a group of beggars. However, beggars weren’t necessarily born as beggars, so it was possible that Reinhart had picked up various bits of knowledge from the club since he was young.

This suddenly made Vertus curious.

Was Reinhart really from the capital? Where was he born, and how did he grow up?

Ultimately, there was no need to be overly curious about it.

He hadn’t brought up the silver-haired girl because he thought it might hurt Reinhart’s feelings.

“I’ll just ask him directly.”

Where are you from? Do you have any siblings?

He could just drop by the Temple when he had time and ask.

He would think about Reinhart’s matter later. For the moment, Vertus returned to thinking about the demonic attack.

His head still felt like it was going to explode.

***

A few days had passed since I returned from the Vampire Council.

Nothing much had changed. Harriet and the rest of the Magic Research Club were still busy with their respective tasks.

I was spending my days as usual, training with Olivia and waiting for Ellen to return, enduring the usual tough routines.

But then...

“Where are you from?” Vertus, who had returned from the palace, suddenly asked me.

My heart felt like it was going to drop. “Uh... the imperial capital.”

“Where in the capital?”

‘What is this? Has he discovered something?’

My heart pounded wildly, but I desperately maintained a calm facade through Self-Deception.

“Well, I don’t really know. I was abandoned when I was very young. Would a street beggar remember such things?”

“... I see.”

I had prepared some vague excuses about my past, including not knowing the details and how I had grown up.

If Vertus had figured something out and knew my true identity, I would have to leave the capital.

But how, and so suddenly?

However, judging by Vertus’s expression, he wouldn’t be asking me about it so casually if he knew the truth.

It seemed like he was just asking out of idle curiosity. Vertus crossed his arms and stared at me, as if deep in thought.

Eventually, my impatience got the better of me, and I asked Vertus directly, “Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

Vertus seemed to think about his response a moment longer before letting out a deep sigh.

“It’s a bit awkward to say this, but... well, here it goes,” Vertus said quietly as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Do you have any siblings?”

‘Oh. Could it be...? Is that it?!’

“Uh, no, not at all. At least, not that I remember...”

“Well, you see, during the festival, I saw a girl who looked a lot like you. So I thought she might be your sibling and tried to find out, but it’s hard to find someone just by their face.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s true...”

I felt dizzy. I felt like I was going to throw up.

“So, I thought if I knew where you were from, I could track her down. But you only registered your identity last year.”

At those words, a chill ran down my spine.

My encounter with Vertus while cross-dressed had led to an investigation into me.

It was clear that Vertus still didn’t know anything, and he didn’t find it suspicious that my identity was only registered last year.

This was dangerous.

If he dug any deeper, I would be in terrible danger.

“So... it’s a bit awkward to say this, but if your parents abandoned you and you had a sibling after that, you might not know you have a sibling, right? So, if you don’t want me to, I won’t, but if you want, I could personally look into it...”

‘This is bad. This could get really, really bad.’

I had to stop this.

Vertus might discover my true identity out of goodwill.

This was not a joke; it was a life-threatening situation.

There was no other choice.

Almost like a reflex...

“That was me.”

I had no choice but to tell the truth.

“... What? What did you say?”

Vertus seemed unable to comprehend what he had just heard.

“That was me.”

I was curious about what kind of expression I had on my face.

“What...? Huh? What did you say?”

Vertus began to doubt his ears.

In hindsight, I had avoided death but at this moment... I wanted to die.