Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 551

It wasn’t just the royal family that was buried in the imperial mausoleum. Those who had achieved accomplishments worthy of being buried alongside the royals were also interred there.

Being buried in the imperial mausoleum without being a royal was an immense honor, and a testament to the empire’s recognition of their merits. Therefore, these individuals had to be great heroes or figures throughout history.

Olivia’s suggestion to replenish the ranks of the Death Knights by raiding this mausoleum was, from a purely practical standpoint, the best option open to us. Assuming it could be done properly, it was a much better place than battlefields like Serandia.

In the Allied Forces’ camp, replenishing Death Knights was virtually impossible, whereas in the imperial mausoleum, they only needed to avoid the guards’ eyes.

As expected, Charlotte turned pale and trembled.

“W-well, if we must... There’s no choice, but...”

Charlotte clearly wanted to shout that it was absolutely unacceptable, given the purpose of entering the mausoleum, but she seemed to think she had no right to do so and slumped into her seat instead.

“But wouldn’t the remains have turned to dust or decayed into the soil by now? Can they really become proper Death Knights?”

“I haven’t done this a lot as well, so I don’t know what will happen. But the important thing is, there are plenty of heroes who have been buried recently,” Olivia said with a grin.

‘Olivia... you’re scary these days.’

“There are probably heroes whose remains had been properly recovered and were interred in the imperial mausoleum after the Gate Incident, and even before that, there was the Great War, right? The fallen who stood out or demonstrated great feats during the Great War are probably also interred in the imperial mausoleum. Even if they aren’t in the imperial mausoleum, we could also try the national cemetery, right?”

“Ah...”

Charlotte nodded, looking miserable. “You’re not wrong...”

That was a period that produced many heroes. Olivia’s claim that there would be plenty of remains in the imperial mausoleum to serve as excellent materials for Death Knights was likely true.

The fact was that many sacrifices were being made, and until this war ended, more sacrifices would be necessary.

The living were dying. But could using someone in death be justified? That was a gray area.

There was no assurance that this wrongful act wouldn’t lead to another. However, the necessity of the act remained unchanged.

In a situation where the lives of the living were being snuffed out mercilessly, who could deny Olivia’s words that there was no room for discretion?

***

I wondered if grave robbing was the right term to use to describe what we were about to do.

Grave robbing typically involves stealing the items interred together with the deceased. But we had no interest in these buried items; we were stealing the remains themselves. Morally, it was an act worse than grave robbing.

Just as the Allied Forces were regrouping, we also planned to strengthen our forces by raising the remains of heroes in the imperial mausoleum as Death Knights. To do so, we had to leave Edina and head to the capital.

There were three members in total.

Olivia Lanche, who had to actually raise the Death Knights.

Harriet de Saint-Ouen, who would assist with transportation and escape in case of emergency.

And me, in case there were any emergencies that required physical force.

Airi’s presence would be helpful, and Charlotte’s even more so, but I did not intend to bring them along. It would be too much for Charlotte to witness, and there were limits to Airi’s movements since she was a demon.

“Tch, I thought I’d finally get to go on a date with Reinhart, but of course, someone has to tag along,” Olivia grumbled, glaring at Harriet, who was preparing to cast her magic.

“How would you get to the capital without me?” Harriet replied.

“You could drop us off and come back to pick us up in a couple of months.”

“Is it really going to take that long?”

“You never know how things will turn out. Besides, the Allied Forces are taking a break, right? I was planning to go on a long break with Reinhart, too.”

Olivia winked at me as she spoke about doing various things until spring arrived.

‘What was she talking about?’

“If you see the state of the capital, you won’t be saying that,” I said.

“Hmm... Is it that bad?”

“It’s not something that can be easily described... but you’ll see.”

If we truly wanted to rest, staying in Edina would be better than going to the capital. The imperial capital was hardly a place where one could feel restful.

The Gradium of our memories was intact, but the pervasive and gloomy atmosphere of the war had turned the entire city gray.

On top of that, our purpose for going to the capital was an ominous one. We were heading there to secure powerful undead.

“Don’t say unnecessary things. We should be careful not to incur divine punishment, unnie.”

“If you think about it, we’re awakening them with Divine Power, so why would it be seen as a punishment? It’s a blessing, not a punishment.”

“Why does that somehow make sense?”

Harriet kept quiet and continued casting, as if she didn’t want to argue anymore.

Indeed, it didn’t seem like a punishment; after all, the power of Kier was divine. If we were going to raise undead with Kier’s power, it wasn’t punishment but a grace, isn’t it?

It was starting to get confusing.

“Let’s go.”

Blue mana lines began to surge from Harriet’s body, and, with a flash, we left Edina.

***

We were in an alleyway in the capital, Gradium.

As soon as we appeared, Olivia pinched her nose.

“What is this smell?”

“Ugh...”

Harriet, who had a weak stomach, also gagged as soon as she appeared. The alley was filled with an indescribable stench, a mix of urine, something rotten, and an unknown fishy smell.

While alleys were usually like that, this stench was excessive. Even in winter, when the cold tended to slow down the development of such odors, it was that bad.

“Let’s get out of here,” I suggested.

“Yeah, I feel like I’m going to... Ugh...”

“No! Don’t actually throw up,” I said.

“Reinhart... If I throw up, catch it with your hands...”

“If you can make a joke, it means you can handle it. Let’s hurry up and go...”

If Olivia was joking, it meant she had the fortitude to endure it.

I wanted to leave as soon as possible. The mysterious smell was just as nauseating to me.

—Ugh!

A real sound came from behind us.

“Thick-Skull?”

Olivia stared blankly at Harriet, who was trembling and bracing herself with her hand against the wall.

“I guess she’s not joking?”

—Ugh, ugh... ugh!

‘Is she really trying to hold it back?’

“Hey! Don’t hold it in, just let it out!”

Come to think of it, Olivia was from the streets, but our thick skull was a real princess, and not someone who could endure this kind of thing.

***

“...”

“Vomit girl.”

“H-hey! Don’t call me that!”

Harriet looked like she was about to cry. Tears welled up in her eyes.

I had seen our princess in many tough situations, but now I had even seen her gagging and vomiting in an alleyway. Harriet, with tears in her eyes, was sniffling.

Still, Olivia seemed concerned, and after patting Harriet’s back a few times, Harriet surprisingly felt better. Her eyes went wide.

“Don’t underestimate the power of the leader of the Holy Order.”

“Isn’t that the power of the gods, not yours? Why are you acting like you’re amazing?”

“When that power manifests through my body, it’s my power, not the gods’.”

“Reinhart. The gods are crazy to give such power to someone like this, don’t you think?” Harriet said, looking at me.

“S-sorry...”

“Huh? Why are you apologizing?”

“N-no, just...”

My apology had been reflexive.

‘Sorry, Harriet... The gods are strange because I’m the one that’s strange!’

Both Olivia and Harriet now seemed to have acquired blasphemy as a passive trait. Olivia was saying that it wasn’t the gods who were great but her, while Harriet had declared that the gods were crazy.

In any case, we left the alley filled with mysterious filth and emerged onto the street. We were wearing robes, and Harriet had cast a perception-blocking spell on all three of us, so there was no chance of passersby recognizing us.

We had arrived in the southern district of the capital, Wenster. It was closer to the Temple than the imperial palace.

“Would it be better if you had something to drink?”

“Yeah...”

Our Thick-Skull had changed a lot. In the past, she would have cried all day if she had embarrassed herself in front of others. Now, although her face was still flushed, she just nodded.

It’s said that meeting a tough person makes you suffer, and that was the case with our Thick-Skull.

The pervasive gloom shrouding the entire street was palpable, but I fully intended to buy Harriet a drink to rinse her mouth.

“Damn it, why is a bottle of water three silver coins?”

Not only were there only a few places selling it, but the prices were exorbitant. That was just how terrible the prices in the capital had gotten.

Harriet rinsed her mouth with a guilty expression.

“There’s no need to see anything else,” Olivia said with a click of her tongue. The price of a bottle of water told her all she needed to know about the capital.

As we walked the streets, we noted the appearances of the people passing by. It was clear that they were starving.

Death lurked on the battlefield, but in the capital, death in the form of starvation awaited.

It was winter, and while we were fortunate not to have seen it with our own eyes, the homeless and displaced people would surely freeze to death in the alleys.

“Believe it or not, it’s actually better here. The situation is worse in the refugee camps on the outskirts,” I said.

The capital’s resources were unable to sustain its massive population. And yet, the empire had to continue to maintain a massive army. Those who fell between the cracks were dying.

Olivia pointed to a crowd of people in a corner of a square. “Why are people gathered over there? Is it a distribution point?”

I thought it might be a food distribution point, but it wasn’t.

Harriet recognized it for what it was. “Those are recruitment officers.”

There were guards controlling the crowd, with imperial officers standing above them, speaking fervently. Their voices were drowned out by the clamor of the crowd.

“I guess you won’t starve if you’re in the army, at least,” Olivia said with a bitter smile.

It seemed like the army had set up a place to conduct physical examinations near the recruitment area.

If you were going to die anyway, you might as well enlist and get free meals in the army. They were not signing up for some grand cause, or to show their dedication to humanity. Becoming a soldier would keep your belly full.

As expected, this was how they were replenishing the ordinary soldiers who were chewed up in battle. They were thrown into battle with loose-fitting armor and a single spear, without any proper training in weaponry. They were like meat shields.

They would constantly enlist to avoid starvation, replenishing the ranks, but would then die in battle.

“Well, if we do our job properly, this war will be brought to an end more quickly, so it’ll be good for those people too. Let’s not get distracted. We need to go.”

Olivia sounded oddly cheerful. Harriet and I followed her. It was a rather optimistic yet chillingly cold statement, but that was the reality of things.

“Unnie... you’re a little scary.”

“If crying could bring an end to all of this, I’d cry for everyone in the world. But that’s not the case, is it?”

“...”

Since tears couldn’t solve anything, she wasn’t going to cry. Just as I had changed, just as Riana had changed, Olivia had changed too.

***

Buried alongside previous generations in the imperial mausoleum were other great figures or heroes who had achieved significant accomplishments.

Charlotte had given us all the information we needed about this place. Even though we weren’t interested in the remains of the royals, Charlotte was still assisting us in using dark powers in the mausoleum of her ancestors. It was a very difficult decision for Charlotte, in her own way.

We were crossing the bridge connecting the southern half of the capital to the northern half. To the north, the imperial palace Emperatos was visible on the hill, and to the south, the Temple was faintly visible.

The two landmarks of the capital remained intact even in this disaster, shrouded in dark clouds and gloom.

The vast refugee camps on the outskirts of the capital were not visible from this central part of the city. Perhaps it was better not to see them, as seeing them would only heighten our depression.

“Things must be quite serious if even magic train operations have been suspended.”

“I suppose so.”

The shortage of resources, including mana stones, was so severe that the magic trains, the core means of transportation in the capital, were not in operation, and reserved only for military and administrative needs. Because of this, we had to walk.

It seemed most of the empire’s national power had been consumed in the production of Titan, and whatever remained was being funneled to the project to ensure its continued operation.

How were they dealing with the monsters that occasionally attacked the refugee camps? Perhaps it was better not to see for myself, as it would only lead to unnecessary thoughts.

“I hope you aren’t shocked, but even heroes have grades to them... It’s only natural,” Olivia murmured as she looked to the distant imperial palace.

Not all those who achieved great feats could be interred in the imperial mausoleum. Only a select few among all the war heroes could enjoy such an honor.

This honor was usually bestowed post-mortem, and there were only a few living individuals who had already secured this honor.

Those still alive who were destined to be buried in the imperial mausoleum would be individuals like Ellen or Sabioleen Tana. Beyond that, perhaps the members of Shanapell, the imperial mage corps, and other superhumans from the Temple’s ranks could also qualify.

In any case, not all the empire’s heroes were in the imperial mausoleum.

“Even if we don’t find enough of what we need in the imperial mausoleum, we could just raid the national cemetery in the northern part of the capital...”

According to Charlotte, the national cemetery in the northern part of the capital also contained the graves of those who had achieved significant feats but were not given the honor of being interred in the mausoleum. If all of humanity’s heroes were buried in the imperial mausoleum, it would have been overcrowded long ago.

The honor of being buried in the same mausoleum as royalty was not a privilege anyone could enjoy. The national cemetery was naturally larger, and more people were buried there than the imperial mausoleum.

The Great War and the Gate Incident... The fallen heroes who had achieved great feats in these two wars were more likely to be in the national cemetery than the imperial mausoleum. It was likely that we would find less decayed remains, which would probably be easier to revive, in the national cemetery.

“It would be easier to infiltrate the national cemetery than the imperial palace since it’s on the outskirts. I think we should go there first.”

Olivia shrugged. “What are you talking about? We’re going to both,” she replied.

Harriet sighed defeatedly. “I thought you’d say that.”

“We should use everything we can. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be able to bring back one of the members of the famous hero party?”

The five hero party members...

Ragan Artorius.

Ragdna Olfi.

Seizaria.

Mulleron.

Shaydin.

Their graves would surely be in the imperial mausoleum.

“Assuming their bodies are there and can be raised,” I said.

“Still, we can’t not go. I don’t know how helpful undead hero party members will be, but still...”

Raising them would only be possible if their bodies were intact.

Charlotte had given us the information on them.

Ragan Artorius’s tomb was in the imperial mausoleum, but there was no body inside. Ragan Artorius had perished with the Demon King, and both his body and the Demon King Baalier’s body had not been found.

Ragan Artorius’s body was not in the mausoleum, so he couldn’t be resurrected. As for the other four, though, their bodies had all been recovered.

While some of the remains had been incomplete, they had all been recovered. Therefore, excluding Ragan Artorius, the physical remains of the other four heroes were indeed in the imperial mausoleum.

“Reanimating Ragan Artorius is impossible, but as for the others, the possibility still remains, so we have to give it a shot.”

Olivia looked over at me. “Could this be called revenge, Reinhart?”

In a way, we were reanimating those who had contributed to killing my father as undead to fight for us.

“If it helps, it helps. If not, it doesn’t. There’s no need to use such grand words,” I replied.

“Sometimes, you seem to have no emotions at all, especially when it comes to this.”

Well, it was because the previous Demon King was not my real father, so it couldn’t be helped. If I were the real Baalier, I would have hated Ellen, and things would not have ended up like this.

I had no affection for or attachment to the previous Baalier. After all, we never even had a conversation. However, I did have a sense of guilt. That Baalier had not wanted the Gate Incident to happen, but I had ended up being the catalyst for it.

Baalier’s wish had been forever shattered because of me.

All I felt towards the previous Baalier was a sense of guilt and responsibility, and that feeling was by no means small.