Chapter 59，Part1

The result of the Battle

“This is…terrible!”

The girl’s grief-stricken voice echoed through the ruins of the battlefield.

The blow from the Demon King and the Spirits created a crater a hundred meters in diameter in the Demon Forest battlefield, and when the massive cloud of dust cleared, the Demon King had disappeared along with the Dark Dragon.

Despite this destruction, there were not many casualties. Although the blast site was hapless, many soldiers were able to escape because the range of the attack did not widen, probably because the two sides were in a competitive situation.

“Spirit-san…”

Gusun… the blonde girl bursts into tears.

Most of the lower-class spirits had been extinguished in the exchange of fire with the Demon King. However, spirit life forms such as Spirit and Demon revive in the spirit world over time, even after they have perished.

“Alice, the Spirits must be pleased to be able to protect you.”

“Oh, those Daemons! I’ll never forgive them!”

[…]

The wounded soldiers looked at the grieving Alice, who was comforted by Crown Prince Julio and Ian, as if they didn’t care about their battered appearance.

The number of those who died in this battle was more than 600, or more than 10% of those who participated in this event. Nearly 400 of them were knights, who fought a girl who appeared to be the Demon King and lost, but it was the Spirit’s attack, as requested by Alice, that killed most of the ordinary soldiers.

It is true that many soldiers were involved in that mighty attack, but it is also true that the soldiers who were first killed by the many Spirits would have been killed by the Demon King if not for the Demon King’s counterattack.

Somewhere in the back of their minds, they understood that there would have been many more casualties, but they bit their teeth in frustration that their comrades and friends died because they were shot from behind by their allies, instead of dying while fighting the enemy.

The problem was that most of the casualties in this battle were knights, the main fighting force, although they only accounted for about 10% of the total.

The Crown Prince was supposed to be just an addition to gain fame as the next king for defeating the invading Daemons, but the loss of many of the nobles who made up the majority of the knights was, in terms of battle results, a disastrous defeat.

In particular, the loss of [Sword Saint] Bert, who went missing after engaging in a one-on-one battle with the Demon King, was a considerable blow to the Caenista Kingdom.

Away from Alice and Abel, who were consoling her, Julio and Ian began to whisper to each other.

“This is a grave situation…”

“It’s all the Demon King’s fault. If only that thing hadn’t come out, we only had to take care of the filthy Daemon village, and we could have gotten Alice recognized by the nobles.”

“I’m all for being a little bit dirty, but…”

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing. If things continue as they are, there will be nobles who will complain about my succession. Father may also give the succession to Flare, who, despite her personality, is more like royalty than any other. If that happens, it will be bad.”

“I’m glad you’re suffering, but…”

“What?”

“No, no. If this continues, it will at least make it difficult to make Alice a Crown Princess of Julio-sama.”

“Is that okay with you, Ian? Are you…”

“I’m fine with Alice tormenting me regularly…no, it’s enough for me to be able to see her face. Just the thought of Alice as queen and being forced to do all kinds of impossible things to me makes my heart skip a beat.”

“I also cringe at the thought of sharing a bedchamber with a commoner.”

Julio and Ian smiled a dreamy, sickening smile.

“Of course, we blame Daemons for everything, but I think we should take more concrete steps.” n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Do you have any ideas? Ian.”

“Of course I do. I’m certain this will work!”