Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 526

There was a clamor within the royal castle of Rajak because of an unexpected argument between the secretary and the leader of the Holy Order.

—Dogs are better!

—Cats are, actually.

—No, dogs are! Dogs are better!

—I’m telling you, cats are! You really don’t know anything, do you?

Naturally, Riana de Granz, the Thunder Queen, who was waiting around in the castle with nothing to do until the next deployment, couldn’t help but be drawn to the absurd argument.

Cats and dogs... What kind of nonsense was this, and in such a place?

—Hey! I’m not going to turn into anything! Why are you two fighting over nothing?

Reinhart’s face had turned pale, and he was fuming while standing between the two antagonists who seemed ready to grab each other’s collars.

He had just returned after scouting out the Allied Forces’ encampment.

Rianna approached them.

“What are you all doing?” she asked Olivia and Harriet, whose faces were flushed.

“Hey, Riana! What do you think?” Harriet asked. freёnovelkiss-com

Riana tilted her head at Harriet’s question. “What do you mean, what do I think?”

Olivia was the one who answered. “Hah, Riana’s obviously on my side on this one. Of course, it’s dogs. Dogs are better. You agree too, right?”

“No, cats are!” Harriet shouted, fuming.

Olivia and Harriet began to stare intently at Riana, as if demanding her to give her opinion. Reinhart seemed to be deliberately ignoring the situation, as if he didn’t want to hear any of it.

Dogs or cats... Riana’s deliberation was brief.

“Won’t a dog be better to eat?”

“Uh... H-huh?!”

Her short answer left Olivia speechless, her mouth agape, while Harriet was horrified.

Reinhart, who had been ignoring the situation, turned even paler.

Riana shrugged at their shocked reactions.

“Weren’t you discussing what would be better to eat during a food shortage?”

“C-crazy... woman...”

“R-Riana...”

“... Don’t take your depression drug. You’re getting weirder.”

At the three’s horrified reactions, Riana burst into laughter.

“Of course I’m joking.”

Riana was gradually losing her mind.

***

“You turned into a cat?”

“... Yeah.”

After hearing the details, Riana crossed her arms and fell into thought.

Reinhart had returned after transforming into a black kitten and being showered with affection in the Royal Class garrison.

Riana pretended to gag as if she was about to throw up. “It’s making me feel sick just thinking about it.”

“Do you think I did it because I wanted to?” Reinhart retorted.

“Did someone force you to?”

“W-well, no... not exactly... B-but the original plan was... never mind. Just... forget it. There’s no point in explaining.”

It was true that he had been pampered during his time in the garrison, so saying anything more would just be seen as an excuse. After all, he had indeed enjoyed the advantage of being cute.

“So Olivia thinks dogs are better, and Harriet thinks cats are better. And they were fighting over that?”

“Yeah. Of course, it’s cats, right?”

“That explains why you’re like that, since you like creatures that don’t know the first thing about loyalty. Your character takes after the animal that you like. If you were as devoted as I am...”

“Oh... so you’re saying you’re like a dog... right?”

Harriet covered her mouth and laughed, swearing, which caused Olivia’s face to turn red.

“What?! Like a dog...? What did you just say to me?!”

“You’re the one who said it first! From now on, I’ll call you dog-woman instead of unnie—”

“Stop! Both of you, stop! It’s my fault! It’s my fault for turning into an animal, so just stop!” Reinhart shouted, his face flushed, unable to watch the two bicker any longer.

“Hmph!”

“Tch!”

Both of them turned their heads away, as if they couldn’t stand the sight of each other.

“Dogs or cats...” Riana wondered aloud, crossing her arms as if something was troubling her.

“Actually, dogs and cats are too common,” she said.

“... That’s exactly the reason why I chose them,” Reinhart replied.

“I want to try raising something like a reptile.”

“...?”

“How about a snake? Hey. I want to see a snake. Or a lizard.”

“W-why are you telling me that?!”

“I mean, you turned into a cat and a dog! So why not a snake?”

“Why should I!”

Reinhart absolutely refused Riana’s request.

“Hah, pretending that you don’t want to be cute, but not wanting to change into something that won’t get you any affection. Sneaky bastard.”

“That’s not it!”

In the end, Reinhart exploded.

***

Reinhart couldn’t visit Charlotte until late at night, having been tormented all day by Riana, Harriet, and Olivia.

The dog versus cat debate was an age-old one, but then Riana suddenly asked to see him transform into a reptile, demanding him to turn into a snake, crocodile, and other bizarre creatures.

Of course, after Riana appeared, he did not transform again.

If Reinhart kept showing off his transformations, it would soon become a habitual request.

Reinhart recalled Ellen’s words.

“Come back again.”

He would have to transform into a cat and head back to the Allied Forces’ encampment again.

He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like having a cat helped calm Ellen down.

He was now caught in a very different dilemma. He would soon feel guilty for only transforming for Ellen and might end up transforming for others too, which could result in him spending more time in animal form than human form.

What kind of situation was this?

He never intended to seek dignity as a king, but why was he this pet-like Demon King who could transform into any animal?

It was horrifying. He had dug his own grave again.

Finally, after being tormented by the three until well past sunset, he was able to visit Charlotte.

Charlotte, who was in charge of ruling Edina, was still extremely busy, even if she wasn’t participating directly in any battles.

She was holed up in her office until late at night.

I knocked on her office door.

“Ah, Reinhart. I heard you were back,” Charlotte said as she stood up, adjusting the black dress she was wearing.

Strictly speaking, there was a hierarchy, but it felt a little strange to enforce it.

‘I hope she hasn’t heard about my animal transformations.’

“Are you busy?” I asked.

Charlotte shook her head. “Huh? Oh, not really. I’ve finished today’s work and just had some things to think about.”

It seemed she hadn’t heard, which was a relief.

If Charlotte asked me to transform into something to show her, I wouldn’t have been able to refuse.

Charlotte was looking at me quietly, as if wondering what I wanted.

Black hair, and eyes that belonged to a devil... She honestly looked like a demon.

She was not cute and lovely as before. Now, she exuded the aura of a queen rather than a princess.

Now that I had gotten used to it, this version of Charlotte wasn’t bad either.

“I have something I need to consult about,” I said.

“Consult?” Charlotte tilted her head, wondering what I needed her advice on.

And then...

Growl...

“...”

“... Um, well...”

The growl came not from my stomach, but from Charlotte’s.

She had finished her work, but hadn’t eaten yet.

“...You shouldn’t skip meals when you work.”

“Y-yeah...” Charlotte nodded, her face turning red with embarrassment.

“It’s not a secret conversation. We can talk over a meal.”

“Um, o-okay.”

Charlotte quietly followed me out.

***

The royal castle of Edina wasn’t grand. It was built more like a fortress than a palace. There were no large banquet halls, concert halls, or galleries.

Compared to the imperial palace, the royal castle of Edina was like a thatch-roofed house.

“Is it uncomfortable for you to live in a place like this?” I asked Charlotte. “And am I asking this too late?”

Charlotte, who was walking beside me, shook her head vigorously, looking bewildered. “No, no, really. It’s really fine. I don’t mind. You know I don’t care about these things...”

As she spoke, Charlotte’s expression fell.

Ever since she had been kidnapped and kept as a captive in the Demon King’s Castle, Charlotte had become indifferent to food and her living spaces.

Unknowingly, and perhaps unknowingly for her too, I had touched a sore spot. Charlotte fell silent.

I hadn’t been able to have a proper conversation with Charlotte ever since my true identity had been revealed.

She hadn’t heard why I had done what I’d done, or why things had to be that way. I had no chance to explain anything to her.

She only knew that I had really wanted to prevent this situation from occurring. For two years after that, we hadn’t spoken about anything.

Things remained like that between us, even now. Charlotte felt guilty toward me, and she kept apologizing, but we never revisited everything that had happened from our first meeting up to this point.

Why I had deceived her.

Whether I had known she was a princess from the start and still deceived her.

The truth about her kidnapping.

The days we spent exchanging letters.

I realized we hadn’t talked about anything.

In the face of the enormity of the Gate Incident, the fate of the world, and the management of a nation, were these small conversations things that could be buried?

Were such conversations unnecessary? Since Charlotte had buried her doubts under a mountain of guilt, was it okay not to talk about them?

I walked beside Charlotte, who was silent and looking at the floor, as we headed towards the dining room.

‘Let’s eat something first. Let’s talk while we eat. Whatever it may be.’

***

“You’re going to do it yourself...?” Charlotte looked at me in disbelief as I headed into the kitchen instead of calling for someone.

“There’s no law against the Demon King wielding a knife, is there?”

“Well... that’s true...”

I had almost no sense of what it was to be a king, and I had no knowledge about the rules or dignity I had to uphold as one.

And honestly, it had been a long time since I wanted to make something for Charlotte with my own hands.

Strictly speaking, there was a hierarchy to follow, but no matter if they saw me as a ruler or not, I only saw them as friends.

I had limits to what I could do alone. That was why I relied on my friends.

I didn’t know if it was right for a king to think this way, but I couldn’t change my mindset.

And honestly, during my time at the Temple, the thing I handled the most after training swords was a kitchen knife.

I cooked and ate a lot. Before breakfast, between meals, after evening training, late at night.

Mostly with Ellen, sometimes with Harriet, and sometimes with Charlotte.

“...”

When I thought of my time at the Temple, I couldn’t help but pause.

I thought about the things that had changed.

I thought about the moments I could never return to.

Even back then, I’d had those thoughts. That everything would change someday. That it was inevitable.

Even in those moments, I always knew that there would come a day when I would reminisce about those days, and that those moments could never be eternal.

Those thoughts had turned out to be true, and now, I had no choice but to live on while reminiscing about a time I couldn’t return to.

However, knowing it and expecting it didn’t make it any easier to accept when it actually happened.

Moments I couldn’t return to.

Relationships I couldn’t restore.

It was so unfair and frustrating, and it made me sad.

***

It was a little funny that the royal castle couldn’t even provide what an academy run by the empire could, but to be fair, the empire’s resources were on a different level.

Though this environment could not be compared to the Temple, it was still a royal castle.

There were enough ingredients in the pantry, and since it was late and Charlotte, unlike Ellen, wasn’t the type to eat a lot, I made her a simple sandwich.

I handed her a glass of water and the sandwich I made.

“Thank you, Reinhart.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Still...”

Even though it wasn’t much, Charlotte seemed touched. Her eyes shone as she carefully bit into the sandwich.

I had made one for myself too, and took a bite as well.

“When’s the next departure?” Charlotte asked.

“Well... that depends on the movements of the Allied Forces, and not my will. We’ll have to keep an eye on them.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s right.”

I was not the one in charge of deciding when the Allied Forces would advance. Given the nature of our work, which involved following the Allied Forces’ movements, we couldn’t predict when our next deployment would be.

Once the Allied Forces sent out their own vanguard and advanced, we would strike further ahead of their route.

“Anyway, it’s a relief that nothing happened. I hope nothing happens to the other units either.”

“They should be fine. I’ve instructed them to retreat immediately if they’re unable to overcome whatever resistance they face. There’s no need to overextend ourselves.”

Since we only had a small number of personnel to deploy, any loss would be significant. The Vampire Lords had been thoroughly briefed, so there shouldn’t be any major issues.

‘Avoid direct conflict with the Allied Forces as much as possible. If you anticipate any loss of personnel in a battle, retreat immediately.’

As long as these two main principles were followed, the other units should not run into any problems.

When I thought about it, there was something I needed to tell Charlotte.

It wasn’t crucial information for Charlotte, but still.

“We destroyed a gate. It was a small one, though,” I said.

“I heard about that from Harriet. But I’m a bit worried that destroying warp gates might be too risky...”

“We didn’t take any risks. Strictly speaking, it was almost entirely Riana’s action.”

Our squad consisted of only five people, and even then, aside from Riana, we hadn’t needed to exert ourselves.

She had summoned a massive snowstorm, blanketing the entire area in snow. The flying monsters had fallen from the sky and died, and many other monsters froze to death. The remaining ones had been buried in the snow and suffocated or were crushed.

“Still, it’s probably best not to rely too much on that strategy since we don’t know how long it will take to work.”

Charlotte nodded quietly. Harriet had already given her the initial report. “That’s true. But it seems like this will be a pretty important card to play in our operations going forward.”

“Yeah, it will.”

Our strategy had been to reduce the number of monsters through extreme cold, but our testing had revealed significant additional effects.

As mentioned before, monsters varied greatly, and so we had to develop various different strategies if we wanted to kill them with the environment rather than direct attacks.

Some were similar to ordinary creatures of the world, while others were completely different. Therefore, we needed to come up with varied ways to kill them.

The snowstorm had proven itself to have many different ways of killing. We had only considered how it could freeze monsters and make them fall out of the sky before, but we now knew it could cause suffocation and crush monsters under extreme weight.

Of course, the fact that there were monsters that had managed to survive even such extreme conditions was, in a way, even more terrifying.

“We can handle small gates like this on our own, but we don’t know about medium or large gates, and we definitely can’t handle the mega warp gates alone.”

The snowstorm was a very useful weapon, but eventually, we would have to face monsters which would not be affected by it.

“By the way, the Allied Forces will probably be quite surprised when they arrive...”

“I don’t think the snow will last until they get there, but we’ll see.”

With Heinrich around, they could melt the snow with fire if needed.

If that didn’t work, Riana could step in again.

It was essentially environmental destruction on a large scale, but at this point, who cared about nature? Survival came first.

Charlotte finished her sandwich and looked at me expectantly.

‘Right, we’re supposed to be having a consultation.’

Somehow, eating together like this at night made me want to talk about various things.

It made me feel sentimental.

Even though I knew this wasn’t the time for that, it felt unfamiliar because it had been so long since I’d felt this way.

But I still had to do what needed to be done.

I didn’t know everything, and there were many things I couldn’t do. That was why I surrounded myself with others. People who could think of things I couldn’t, people who could do things I couldn’t. They were all precious to me.

“Do you know anything about the Schwartz royal family?”

“You mean Kernstadt?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Charlotte tilted her head, as if wondering why I was asking about this. “I know as much as I need to.”

It wasn’t a small, insignificant country, but the first duchy.

In other words, it was the second most powerful nation of humanity.

Charlotte said she knew as much about it as she needed to. I found that quite interesting. Not that she knew as much as she could, but as much as she needed to.

She did not just possess general knowledge, but the requisite amount that a princess should know.

In other words, she had knowledge of details that were not publicly known.

“You know Heinrich, right?” I said.

“Yeah, Heinrich von Schwartz. He was a classmate of ours. I know he’s been quite active since the Gate Incident.”

“He’s about to be assassinated by his siblings. That’s what I believe.”

“... What? Assassinated?” Charlotte exclaimed in disbelief.

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