Chapter 23 – Revenge
“Reporting! The demons have breached the castle gate!!”
The report arrived around noon the day after the fall of the Royal Capital.
The castle was besieged by a horde of undead, and all who remained in the castle spent a sleepless night listening to the incessant sounds of the undead stomping and the war cries of the demons.
It was only a single night, but for those trapped inside the castle, it felt endless.
Upon hearing that the demons had broken through the castle gates, the king muttered.
“They’re finally here……”
The King, Rufus, Saintess Yuri, and the remaining leaders were in the audience chamber.
Soon, the sounds of fighting between the demons and knights could be heard.
The faint clamor gradually became louder.
A light cloud of black smoke could be seen rising from the window, and the King exhaled a small, thin breath.
The Kingdom of Inglith had existed for nearly 1,500 years.
It was clear that its end was imminent.
Rufus also realized this and clenched his fists.
The death of a single duke’s daughter sealed their fate.
Saintess Yuri was looking down and muttering something under her breath, most of it unintelligible, but she had been like this since the day before, so no one approached her.
The din of battle came closer.
The sound of running footsteps approached.
With a bang, the door to the audience chamber was slammed open.
“Your Majesty, Your Highness, are you safe—……?”
In an instant, the Knight Commander was pierced by a sharp black thorn that grew from under his feet.
A small shriek echoed from Saintess Yuri.
The black thorn disappeared in an instant, and the Knight Commander collapsed and remained motionless.
A pool of blood spread beneath his body.
Two shadows stood outside the door.
“Greetings to you all, I hope you are well.”
The one who spoke was a beautiful girl with pale skin, lush blonde hair, and bright pink-red eyes.
Beside her was a brown-skinned man with silver hair and blood-red eyes. The horns on his head made it clear that he was a demon.
The King rose from his throne.
“Miss Rachel Sheringham “
The girl, Rachel, smiled.
“No, that’s wrong. I am Rachel the Lich. I was executed and resurrected as a lich, a type of undead, and have returned to seek revenge.”
“I thought so…”
Rufus spoke up.
“I’m sorry, Rachel! You were innocent and still faced execution! We were wrong to trust the words of Saintess Yuri!!”
Rufus bowed deeply.
Even though the country was on the verge of destruction, the prince of the country, the Crown Prince who would be the next king, bowed his head.
This was probably a first for Rufus.
But Rachel smiled.
“No need to apologize, Your Highness.”
Rufus looked up at the gentle voice, then froze at the next words.
“It means nothing now.”
That gentle voice suddenly turned chillingly cold.
“No amount of remorse can restore my honor. It won’t erase the fact that I was executed, and it won’t change the fact that this country will be destroyed by the demons. Besides, even if you apologize now, it will only make things more unpleasant.”
The demon beside Rachel gently stroked her head.
Rachel turned to him and smiled.
Her smile was as beautiful as a large rose.
Rufus’ breath caught in his throat at how happy she looked.
Rachel and Rufus had been engaged for a long time, ever since they were young, but he had never once seen her smile like that.
He was forced to realize, whether he liked it or not, that the Rachel of today was not the Rachel he knew before.
Her face was raised up firmly. Her gaze straight.
Her back straightened and her figure majestic.
The way she smiles happily is so beautiful.
“I am grateful to you, humans. Your foolish choices allowed me to obtain my beloved Queen.”
Rufus was stunned by the demon man’s words.
“Could it be that you are the Demon Lord……?”
“Indeed. I am the being you humans call the Demon Lord. And not only did Rachel break my seal and completely revive me, she also became my wife.”
The male demon, the Demon Lord, put an arm around Rachel’s shoulders.
Rachel smiles and surrenders herself to it.
“That’s a lie!” came a shriek.
Everyone’s gaze was on Saintess Yuri.
“That’s impossible! If Faust were to fully revive, he would kill Rachel! Why is Rachel Faust’s wife?!”
Rachel laughed.
“Oh, yes, I should thank you for that, Saintess Yuri. Thank you for framing me for a crime I did not commit and killing me. Thanks to you, I live more freely in death than I did when I was human, and I was able to become the wife of the one I love.”
“Get away from Faust! That’s where I belong! I should be at Faust’s side!!”
Saintess Yuri shouted in anger.
“You, what in the world?!!
Rachel smiled at that.
Her eyes turned to Rufus.
“Your Highness, your last words to me were, ‘Necromancers are disgusting’, and then you had me executed for the non-existent crime of consorting with demons.”
Rachel’s voice lilted, almost singing.
“So I thought to myself.”
Her pink-red eyes looked at Rufus and Saintess Yuri.
“If that’s the case, then I will join the demons, as accused. Are you satisfied now, Your Highness? Saintess Yuri?”
Rufus shakes his head loosely.
No one wanted this.
“You will pay for killing me.”
At that moment, Saintess Yuri raised her voice.
＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊
“Aaaaaaaaahhh!!” cried Saintess Yuri
It was nonsense.
However, Saintess Yuri held out her hand to me.
Seeing the magic formula that appeared there, I immediately waved my hand and struck it with a spell of my own.
The two activated spells collided.
A shockwave spread and everyone except me and Lord Ewaldt tumbled to the ground.
“Thank you, Lord Ewaldt.”
Thanks to Lord Ewaldt’s support, I was able to remain standing despite the shockwave.
Instead of replying, he gently kissed my forehead.
Out of the corner of my eye, Saintess Yuri stood up.
“‘O Holy Magic, Seal and Weaken the Evil Demons!'”
A magic formula of Holy Attribute Magic appeared at our feet.
We were enveloped in a white light.
“Hahaha, this should weaken you! That’s for getting in my way! A weakened demon is no big deal after all!!”
Saintess Yuri said happily, making me smile.
“‘Dark Magic, Seize Them.'”
“Kyaaa!?”
When I cast my spell, a shadow stretched out from under my feet and entangled everyone in the room.
“Why?! If they are demons, they should be weakened by Holy Attribute Magic……!!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the surprised look on Saintess Yuri’s face.
“Fufu, sorry. I have Dark Attribute magic, but at the same time, I also have a little bit of Holy Attribute magic. Therefore, I have resistance to Holy Attribute Magic.”
When I receive holy magic, my body feels a bit sluggish, but it’s not so bad that I can’t move, and I can still use magic without any problems.
However, Lord Ewaldt frowned in annoyance.
“Still, it’s a nuisance.”
Lord Ewaldt snapped his fingers, and the magic circle at our feet shattered with a loud crack.
“I wondered how powerful she was, since she was called a Saint, but she can’t even measure up to Rachel’s shadow. To call her a Saint, the quality of Saints these days has deteriorated considerably.”
“Come now, comparing her to the First Saint is unfair. Besides, I am the reincarnation of the First Saint.”
“True, Rachel. Both she and you were… exceptional cases.”
With a wry smile at Lord Ewaldt’s words, I approached Saintess Yuri.
She struggled to escape, trying to break out with Holy Attribute Magic, but my Dark Attribute Magic seemed to be stronger.
…… That’s also true.
In the original story, this should still be the beginning stages.
Saintess Yuri gradually gets stronger as the story progresses, so her Holy Attribute Magic is probably not that strong right now.
On the other hand, if she is allowed to live, it will be troublesome later.
“Saintess Yuri, no, Aizawa Yuri-san.”
When I called her name, Yuri flinched.
Because I pronounced her name correctly.
“Why……?”
“I also know of ‘Sacred Fate‘.”
“A, are you also a reincarnation?!”
I shake my head.
“No, I only have memories of my previous life, I am just me.”
“But you didn’t show any signs of it!”
“I only remembered my memories when I was executed. It was because you executed me that I was able to recall my memories and resurrect the Demon Lord.”
“So, what I did……”
Saintess Yuri looked shocked.
“That’s right, by erasing Rachel, you tried to prevent the Demon Lord’s full resurrection and eliminate the future in which you would die, right? But that’s not the case in the original. Moreover, in order to break the Demon Lord’s seal, you originally needed a pure maiden who is a direct descendant of the First Saint. And I am the only one who could fit that description. By killing me, you have lost the means to break the Demon Lord’s seal. …… That plot point wasn’t mentioned in the original story, so inevitably, you didn’t know. But in the end, it all backfired.”
If Yuri had followed the original story, I would probably still be living as a human.
Although I would find it painful to watch Yuri and His Highness become closer, at times I would admonish them, at other times I would warn them, but eventually I would give in and accept them.
And so, after Yuri resurrected the Demon Lord, I am sure that I would have been persuaded by his sweet words and offered my mana to him, helping him achieve his complete resurrection.
If nothing had happened, I would have been killed just like in the original story.
But thanks to Yuri doing something different from the original, I was able to regain my memories, get my revenge, and change my own future.
“You shouldn’t have killed me.”
That way, the Kingdom of Inglith would not have been invaded and destroyed by the demons.
Saying this, Yuri’s gaze wandered, and then she looked at Lord Ewaldt.
“No, I just didn’t want to die! I just loved Faust! I don’t want a future like this!! Faust……!!”
Lord Ewaldt looks at her outstretched hand with cold eyes.
That was the answer to everything.
Yuri choked and began to cry under Lord Ewaldt’s cold gaze.
It was pitiful to see her crying like a child, but I didn’t feel any sympathy for her at all.
“What about these people?”
Lord Ewaldt asked, and I thought about it.
“Well, I want to give back what I received, but where do I start?”
Just as I was tortured and executed, I want them to suffer in the same way.
“Rachel,” His Highness called my name.
It was unpleasant, so I waved my hand and covered His Highness’s mouth with a shadow.
“We’re no longer engaged, could you please not call me by my name? Only Lord Ewaldt may call me by my name?
“Indeed, and only Rachel can call my name.”
Yuri raised her head.
“Eh? Isn’t it Faust……? Who’s Ewal……?”
As Yuri was about to say it, she suddenly started to tremble and collapsed to the ground.
Oh my, how troubling.
“She’s dead.”
“This is her punishment for calling my name without my consent. I suppose she didn’t have enough mana to call me by my name.”
“But I didn’t want her to die…… it can’t be helped. Turning her into an undead would make her less likely to feel pain.”
However, I think about it…
Maybe it’s better to make them undead.
The undead can’t be easily extinguished, my orders are absolute, and I can inflict pain on them for a long time.
“Well, all right. Lord Ewaldt, would you please decapitate them all?”
“Very well.”
Lord Ewaldt waved his hand lightly, and everyone’s heads were cut off as if they had been slashed by something.
At the same time, I activate my necromancy and resurrect them all as undead. If I turn them into Dullahans, I will gain their loyalty, so for now, it’s fine to keep them as just undead.
I don’t need the shadow anymore, so I retrieved it.
His Highness touched his neck with a look of surprise on his face.
“Am I dead…….”
And that makes me laugh.
“I made you an undead. I will not let you die so easily. Unless I inflict on you the same suffering that I experienced, it won’t be revenge.”
“The same suffering….”
Lord Ewaldt walked up to me.
“As I understand, they had you tortured and then publicly beheaded, didn’t they?”
And his Highness’ face turned pale.
…… yes, that’s right.
The torture I was subjected to was horrific.
“Your Highness, whatever you do to others will always come back to haunt you.”
“If it’s torture, leave it to Fahlen Thein. Despite his appearance, he’s one of the most sadistic of us demons. He’ll give Rachel the exquisite agony she deserves.”
“Can’t I do it myself?”
“I suppose, but why waste your precious time on these humans? I’d rather you spend your time with me instead.”
Lord Ewaldt took my hand and kissed it.
I took a quick look, but Yuri hadn’t awoken.
If she had been awake, she would have made a fuss.
“If that’s what you wish, Lord Ewaldt.”
It doesn’t matter because the King, His Highness, and Saintess Yuri have all become my undead.
The people who called for my death that day have probably been killed by the demons as well.
The Kingdom of Inglith, which had abandoned me, was all but destroyed, so I felt like I had exacted my revenge.
I held out my hand and directed my mana at Yuri and His Highness.
Chanting, I placed a seal on the two.
This is a weakened version of the sealing spell that had been cast on Lord Ewaldt, and this should have significantly weakened their magic.
As long as the seal is in place, their magic will remain weakened.
Even if they try to use magic, they shouldn’t be able to handle even basic-level magic.
Both Yuri and His Highness have a particularly large mana pool, so it would be troublesome if they went on a rampage, so sealing them is just to be safe.
“What should we do next?”
Lord Ewaldt laughs at my words.
“I, too, shall claim a kingdom of my own. If I’m going to be the King of the Demon Kingdom, you, Rachel, will be my queen. Such a small country would never suit you.”
“By that logic, Lord Ewaldt, you should aim higher too. Why settle for just one kingdom when the Demon Lord could rule the entire continent?”
“Hahaha! Now that sounds entertaining.”
When Lord Ewaldt waved his hand, the King and the others sank into a shadow at their feet and disappeared.
“I sent them to the dungeons of Demon Castle. A dragon courier can inform Fahlen Thein that he may play with them, so long as they survive.”
Guided by Lord Ewaldt’s hand, I walked toward the throne.
And thus, I was led to my seat of power.
“Congratulations on your revenge, Rachel.”
I smiled heartily at that.
“Thank you, Lord Ewaldt. I must also thank everyone who worked so hard to get me here.”
I couldn’t have done it on my own.
It was only possible because of Lord Ewaldt and all the demons.
“The demons love to kill humans, they even loathe them. They must be very happy to be able to invade the human country after all the struggles they’ve had up until now. I don’t think there’s any need for you to thank them.”
Lord Ewaldt smiled amusedly.
Sads Translates 