The Legendary Rebuilding of a World by a Realist Demon King Chapter 24

Arriving at the Dwarven Homeland

After walking from Ashtaroth Castle for several days, the dwarven homelands came into view.

From our still far distance, it seemed more like a settlement than a town.

I could see several houses that were crudely built with stacked stones.

All of them had straw or tin roofs.

Perhaps it was more of a village than a town. I could not help but think such things as I looked at how poor it all was.

“And I thought the dwarves had many brilliant architects among them?”

It reminded me of an old saying about practicing what you preach.

“This dwarven settlement is not exactly prosperous. Besides, the dwarves are not a race that cares much about keeping up appearances.”

“I see.”

“Additionally, this settlement lives off of its mines. They do not often have to return to their homes, as they would have rooms within the mountain.”

“Yes, I see. But it is quite troublesome to have to go all the way to the mines. I would like to visit one of their houses outside…”

“Is something wrong, master?”

“No. But I thought it strange.”

“Strange, my master?”

“Yes. I suppose there must be many men who work in the mines, but would not their wives and children live here in the houses?”

“I believe so.”

“And yet it is midday, but I see no smoke rising from their houses. Do dwarven women not use cooking stoves?”

“They most definitely do. They are not goblins.”

“Then this town is practically an empty shell… Hmm…?”

I had taken notice of it first, but it was Jeanne d’Arc who first acted on it.

She pulled the sword from her back and said,

“Demon Lord, it would seem that this settlement has fallen.”

“We best not rush to conclusions, but it is clear that an enemy has appeared.”

Clearly visible now, were two lesser demons, flying towards us.

I saw that below them, there were walking corpses that moved without much energy.

In other words, zombies.

But not just any, because these had been dwarves.

“…What a base thing to do.”

I wanted to spit, but held back the urge and considered our situation.

“So, the dwarven settlement has been attacked by someone. The residents have been killed and are now zombies. That is all certain.”

“It is most savage.”

Jeanne said with a pained voice.

“I agree with you there, but I hope you will save your prayers for when we are done. What we must do now, is to drive away those devils.”

“Of course.”

Jeanne said, and she gripped her sword tightly.

Eve took a step back and unsheathed her short sword, as she always did.

If anything were to happen, I will immediately end my own life!

I will not inconvenience you, my master!

It was all very commendable, but I could hardly wish for her to kill herself over such small issues.

However, she was not the type of person to listen. So it would really depend on her own ability.

In other words, I would have to dispose of these demons and zombies before Eve was in any way injured.

Two demons. They were strong monsters to be sure, but Jeanne and I would be more than enough to deal with them.

There were also about ten zombies, but if such a number were to have any effect on me, not only would becoming the Great Demon Lord be a hopeless cause, but I would not even be able to maintain my castle for long.

This was not a battle that I should struggle with.

With a short chant, I simultaneously created to balls of fire and launched them ahead, one by one.

One towards the demons and one towards the group of zombies.

One demon fell from the sky upon being hit, but it was not enough to take its life.

There was a look of rage on the monsters face, and I could tell that it was promising to take revenge.

On the other hand, the fireball that had taken the zombie horde was burning very well.

Zombies do burn nicely.

Perhaps it was the fat of the dwarves that acted as a kind of fuel.

There was also a possibility that all of the spirits they had downed before death was doing the work.

As I muttered such imprudent thoughts, Jeanne made a gallant dash forward.

As her sword slashed through the group of zombies, she made her way towards the fallen demon.

As she could not use magic, she had to cut its wings before it could take to the air once again. For a girl who looked quite stupid, she sometimes displayed a quickness of thought.

In that case, it was up to me to deal with the demon in the sky.

I chanted a spell of levitation and rose into the air to face the demon.

As I did not see the harm, I addressed it in our common tongue.

“Who are you? What have you done to the dwarven settlement?”

Those who are the evilest tend to be the most talkative.

The demon replied in the same language.

“We are the subordinates of the Demon Lord Eligos. We rule these dwarven lands.”

“Rule? Don’t you mean destroyed? And you have turned the people into zombies.”

“We killed those who resisted. And the necromancer Sharltar turned them into zombies. That is all.”

“I would consider that quite vile.”

I was annoyed now and decided to kill the thing at once.

I chanted.

It was powerful magic, but had the great flaw of a less than completely brief chant required to activate it.

I would be defenseless in the meantime, but I would survive.

I was confident in my physical abilities as well.

“The sigh of spirits, borne in shadows,

Come as freezing blades of wind, and bind the other!”

It was a blizzard spell.

I was able to use this spell due to my ability to dodge the enemies attacks, but it was also due to my subordinate.

Because Jeanne had finished dealing with the zombies on the ground and cut off the demon’s head, which she now launched mercilessly into the air.

The severed head had no ability to deal physical damage, but it was an effective method of greatly daunting a living demon.

In spite of their appearances, seeing one of their kind killed was a most terrible thing.

It shrieked and shuddered with a contorted expression.

I did not miss the opportunity presented. Finishing the spell, I gave the demon a taste of what blizzard magic was like.

Such pure and powerful magic used with precise chanting had created a blizzard that enveloped the demon in a flash. Its skin quickly went from black to white.

Still, it tried to escape, but the ability of my magic to pursue was hardly ordinary.

Its wings soon froze over as well, and the demon fell to the ground.

And just like that, it was encased in ice.

It was sealed.

Jeanne saw this and her voice rose with emotion.

“Demon Lord… You are the most powerful Sorcerer.”

The block of ice would not last forever, and would eventually melt. However, the very cells of the demon were destroyed, and it was wholly dead.

It was the perfect end to one who had attacked the dwarves and toyed with their lives.

If any of the dwarves had survived, they would likely be spitting on the demon’s grave right now.

But that was not to be.

We had fought the demons and the living corpses. Fought too much. Too boldly.

I had used magic more than once, and Jeanne had swung her sword so many times that she could have dug a hole in the ground.

The enemy would not let us go unchallenged.

I looked further ahead and saw that more zombies were coming towards us.

There were also about a dozen demons and a sorcerer who seemed to be leading them.

“Well, we are hopelessly outnumbered.”

With my magic and Jeanne’s sword, we would be a force to be reckoned with. However, I did not think that we could win against that number.

And so I decided to withdraw.

Jeanne did not look pleased with this decision.

“Demon Lord. Do you mean to run?”

“We are not running. This is a strategic withdrawal.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Then you must trust me. In that other world, there is a saying. Discretion is the better part of valor.”

“Very well. But how will we get away?”

“It’s simple. You turn around towards the direction you came…”

I paused.

Because I now saw that there was a horde of zombies in that direction as well.

Ashamedly, I had been too preoccupied in the fight to notice this.

I saw that Eve was being attacked, and so I burned the zombies away with a fireball, but this was not going to be effective for long.

There were too many of them.

It was a dangerous situation.

Even now, I could rush through them with brute force. But things were different with Jeanne and Eve here.

Perhaps I had really allowed myself to be checkmated.

It was as if we were the king, queen, and bishop, and around us were endless pawns.

Now, what should I do?

The proper action to take here, would be for me to part the sea of zombies with a road of blood, and allow the girls to escape.

Well, I felt that that was really my only option, but then salvation came from the most surprising place.

There was a small boulder to the side that I had not taken any notice of before, but it now opened, and from below, the face of a white-haired, elderly man appeared.

He spoke.

“I see now that you are enemies of Eligos. And that you wield immense power. It would be a waste for you to die here. I ask that you come down to the undergrounds with me, so that we may fight our common enemy together.”

“You will save us?”

“It is not for free.”

The old man said unashamedly.

I took a liking to him then. This was much preferable to being saved by someone pretending to be a saint.

Besides, we were now enemies of this Demon Lord Eligos.

There should be no harm in receiving the aid of this old man.

And with all of this considered, I had Eve, then Jeanne, enter the hole. And like that, we descended into the underground.