Chapter 3 – Executives of the Demon Lord’s Army
With Lady Alexia carrying me, we flew at an incredible speed for a whole day and night.
The next night, we arrived at our destination, the Demon Castle.
With her wings flapping, Lady Alexia descended to the front gate of the Demon Castle.
The gate was guarded by a group of wolf-like demons that stood on two legs, and they growled “Human” when they saw me.
And Lady Alexia said.
“Hold, this one is indeed a former human, but now she is a lich, a member of our demon race. Let her pass.”
“But, Mistress Alexia, letting a human inside…!”
Alexia glared at him.
“Did you not hear me? This one is now a demon now, and I am her guardian. If anything happens, I will take responsibility.”
The wolf-like demons looked at each other, then reluctantly opened the gate.
But I received a lot of glares as I passed through.
It’s probably because I was originally human.
Just because I became a demon didn’t mean they would trust me easily.
…… I suppose it’s mutual.
The Demon Castle was a pitch-black castle.
It’s black inside and out, somewhat gloomy, and terribly silent.
I followed Alexia.
We proceeded along a complicated route, going right, left, up and down.
Royal castles have complicated routes to prevent intruders from reaching their destination, so this isn’t unusual, but it felt larger than it appeared from the outside.
I tilted my head in confusion, wondering if it was just my imagination.
Lady Alexia seemed to know her way around, walking without hesitation even when she came to a fork in the road.
Eventually, we reached a double-opening door.
“The executives of the Demon Lord’s army should be just ahead.”
Saying this, Lady Alexia knocked on the door.
Then she pushed the door open.
Inside were several shadows.
They all suddenly looked my way.
Some of them looked unfamiliar to me, but even though they were staring at me, I felt nothing.
Compared to the cold glare of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the hateful gazes of the people, it was adorable.
“Oh, sister!”
A young man’s voice sounded, and one of them approached.
The young man, likely a vampire, had short golden hair similar to Lady Alexia’s, and the same red eyes, and a slender, beautiful appearance.
His gentle and sweet features are likely to be popular with women.
The young man who called Lady Alexia “sister”, stood beside her and looked at me intently.
“Oh, human… no, is this the aura of a lich?”
“How unusual,” he said, and I nodded.
“Yes, my name is Rachel the Lich.”
I curtsy on the spot.
My clothes are tattered, so I’m not much to look at.
“Hey, Alexia! Do you know where you are? What the hell do you think you’re doing bringing a little human girl here?!”
A barking, angry cry comes flying.
It was so loud that my ears were squeamish.
But Lady Alexia didn’t seem to mind, and just smiled.
“She’s a ‘former human’, and as mentioned, she’s a lich now. As a demon, it’s not surprising that she’s among other demons.”
“I’m not talking about that! I can’t allow humans, former or otherwise, to breach this precious Castle of our Demon Lord, his very home!!”
The one shouting was the same as the demons I saw at the gate.
It looks like a large wolf standing on two legs.
However, he was a large, muscular demon, and judging from his voice, he was probably a male.
Incidentally, the wolves at the gate were dark gray, but the wolf-like demon in front of me had dark bluish-grey fur.
He wore minimal armor, with cloth wrapped around his limbs like bandages, and had sharp black claws.
I’ve never seen a demon so up close before.
…… No, Lady Alexia was also a demon.
Vampires look so human that they can easily mimic them, so they don’t feel like demons, but I’m sure they would dislike hearing that.
Because demons hate humans.
“I don’t need your permission. Lo and behold, she comes with such great mana, is a master of necromancy, and also an immortal lich. Wouldn’t it be a waste to leave her idle?”
At Lady Alexia’s words, the others looked at me.
I bowed my head to show that I had no hostility.
“Throw it out, now!”
“I refuse. I’ve already become Rachel’s guardian, so I have decided to take this lass with me for a while.”
“Y, you, are you crazy?!”
The wolf demon shouted so loudly that it shook the air, but to Lady Alexia, it was like the wind blowing everywhere, it was probably just an everyday occurrence for the two of them.
As I stared blankly, my eyes met with those of the wolf demon.
He glared at me.
“Hey, human, you bastard-…….”
“It’s Lich.”
The wolf demon was about to change his target and yell at me this time, but I corrected him.
“I am Rachel, the Lich. I’m no longer human. I also hate humans, and I would be happy to help the Demon Lord’s army.”
The wolf demon opened his mouth in surprise.
A voice came from behind the wolf demon.
“Why would a former human despise their own kind?”
It was a soft male voice.
When the wolf demon turned around, my vision opened up and I could see another demon who was there.
He looked human, but his skin was covered with hard scales that gave him the impression of being slightly older.
His short, dark green hair was brushed back, and there was a horizontal scar on his face above the nose.
He was quiet, but intimidating.
“Do I need to tell you?”
“At the very least, we need to know who you are and what you’re thinking. Even if you become a demon, I’m not inclined to trust a former human right away.”
“Indeed.”
The woman next to the demon man nodded.
She was a bewitching beauty with black hair and vivid purple eyes.
Even when she is just standing there, her eye-catching beauty and sensuality are so striking that even I, a woman, find myself captivated.
“…… That’s true.”
I still feel bitter with hatred and anger when I remember it, but if they don’t understand that I hate humans, they won’t accept me.
That’s why I revealed my life so far.
I was born as the daughter of a Duke of the Kingdom of Inglith.
I was raised as the fiancée of the Crown Prince.
I was born with dark attribute magic and could use necromancy.
Because of this, I was shunned by my family and my fiancée.
About half a year ago, the Kingdom of Inglith summoned a Saint.
The Saint and the Crown Prince fell in love, and I became unnecessary.
The Saint prophesied that I would ally with the demons, and so I was abandoned by my family and offered to the Royal Family.
The Royal Family treated me like a sinner, tortured me, and finally broke off my engagement to the Crown Prince and executed me.
“And before I knew it, I had become a lich.”
As I spoke, a murky feeling began to bubble up inside me.
I could feel hatred and anger welling up inside me.
I could feel the nails of my clenched hand digging into my palm.
“I will never forgive the Duke who abandoned me, the Saint and the Crown Prince who made a sinner of me, and the people who called for my death. They must be made to suffer as much as I did. I want…… revenge.”
Fufu, a smile escapes my face.
If I could take revenge on them, I would laugh with joy from the bottom of my heart.
Hmm, the demon man nodded.
“That hatred, is genuine.”
Lady Alexia said with an exasperated look on her face.
“You were the daughter of a Duke? Humans truly are foolish creatures. How absurd of the human royals, foolishly doing the bidding of a Saint they summoned from another world.”
Suddenly, a young vampire looked up.
“Hmm? The Duke’s family of the Kingdom of Inglith…?”
He smiled, trying to remember something.
“Yes, I was Rachel Sheringham, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Sheringham, one of the four great duke families of the Kingdom of Inglith. I am originally from that family.”
“You are a direct descendant of the first Saint!”
At these words, everyone looked surprised.
“Bastard! So you came to subjugate us after all!!”
The wolf demon lowered his hips and made a defensive gesture.
Other than Alexia, everyone seemed to be ready for battle, but I shook my head.
“No, I have no intention of making the demons my enemies. I no longer have any intention of helping humans.”
Falsely accused, tortured, and killed.
I don’t have the slightest inclination to do anything for humanity.
On the contrary, all I have now is hatred for humanity.
“I am a direct descendant of the first Saint. And I am a human, albeit a former one. Surely, I will be able to break the seal placed on the Demon Lord, a seal that cannot be broken by demons.”
From an early age, I was educated by the Duke’s family.
As a direct descendant of the first Saint. A Holy Maiden.
Even if I possessed magical power of the dark attribute, I was undoubtedly of holy blood.
Therefore, I also learned about holy magic.
I was never very good at handling it, but I studied hard.…… I wanted my family to praise me.
In the end, no one praised me.
“I see, you are the descendant of the first Saint. If so, you will certainly be able to break the seal on the Demon Lord.”
Among the holy magic I learned, one was related to seals.
One is the magic that strengthens seals.
One is the magic of breaking seals.
…… For now, I am grateful to have been born into the Duke of Sheringham.
Although I was often belittled and treated coldly by my family, thanks to being born into a duke family, I now know how to break the seal on the Demon Lord.
The expressions of everyone in the room changed.
“Ho, can you really awaken the Demon Lord?!! You’re not lying, are you?!!”
I nodded at the wolf demon’s words.
“Yes, among the holy magic that has been passed down through the generations of the Duke family, there is one that can break the seal.”
The demon man said.
“Previously, however, there was a lich that failed to break it. Although he was a user of holy magic, he was unable to break the seal.”
That makes me chuckle.
“The seal can only be broken by a descendant of the first Saint.”
“What do you mean?”
“To break the seal, you need three keys. One is knowledge of the sealing magic and the corresponding unsealing magic spell, then the magical power associated with the Saint, and lastly, the blood of a pure maiden who is the descendant of the first Saint.”
It can’t be solved by the lich who tried before.
Only a maiden of the bloodline of the first Saint can break the seal.
“Therefore, I am the only one who can do it.”
I understand now.
In the original story, the heroine, a Saint, unseals the Demon Lord and resurrects him, but why did Rachel, the Crown Prince’s fiancée, accompany her until that point?
Because only Rachel, of all people, could do it.
“Even with all this, would you still not accept me into the demon clan?”
That’s why the Demon Lord wanted her.
Because Rachel is the only one who can seal him away.
There are daughters in the branch families, but they all have much less magic power than I do, and none have learned sealing magic.
Only the direct descendants of the Duke of Sheringham’s family are permitted to learn this magic, so the only people who know about it besides me are my father, aunt, brother, and grandmother.
Among us, I’m the only one who can use magic.
…… Ah, so that’s why.
Even when I came of age and turned eighteen, I did not marry His Royal Highness the Crown Prince right away, because they were deliberately postponing my marriage.
In the past few years, the demon invasion has intensified.
If the Demon Lord is resurrected, I am the only one who can seal him away.
That’s why the royal family bound me to them as a fiancée.
It was only natural that the Crown Prince didn’t love me.
In reality, I wasn’t his fiancée, but merely a tool to be used in case of emergency.
They probably thought that summoning a new Saint, training her and having her perform the sealing would have a greater magical effect than using me, who was merely a descendant.
Perhaps they thought that since I am of the dark attribute, even if I could perform the holy seal, the effect would be weaker.
…… But they made the worst choice.
I was resurrected as a lich.
Fortunately, I remained pure until the last moment.
Even if I am dead, I still remain of the Saint’s bloodline.
“…… That would be fine.”
The demon man nodded silently.
“Rachel, the Lich, we welcome you as a member of the Demon Lord’s army.”
“Wilheim!!”
The wolf demon tribe roared, but the demon man shook his head.
“If we can revive the Demon Lord, that should be our first priority. It’s worth letting her try.”
“But what if she betrays us?!”
“At that time, we will just kill her until she dies. In any case, we have only two possible fates: either we can break the seal on the Demon Lord and regain our former strength, or the seal is not broken and the entire Demon race will be weakened and annihilated.”
Lady Alexia’s hand touched my shoulder.
“Rachel, can you resurrect the Demon Lord?”
I nodded in response.
“Yes.”
If the Demon Lord is resurrected, the demons will become stronger.
If that were to happen, the humans would certainly be at a disadvantage.
…… they all should suffer.
Now they can taste the pain they’ve caused me.
“I will resurrect the Demon Lord.”
Sads Translates 