Chapter 228
“Did you come back… what is that on your forehead?”
“It’s nothing.”
Seere couldn’t help but squint her eyes at the bump on Nahun’s forehead, which he got after finishing his training with Citri. Before Seere could ask anything, Nahun spoke up first.
“By the way, don’t you feel something has changed with His Majesty Citri?”
“Huh? Ah…”
Seere nodded when she saw Citri.
“Your magic power has increased significantly. Ah, it’s more accurate to say you have returned.”
“Can you feel it too, Seere?”
“Yes.”
Citri definitely felt her strength had returned. Perhaps feeling good about it, she slightly curled the corners of her mouth into a smile, prompting Nahun to say.
“It’s not like you’re a kid…”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. Anyway, now that you’ve regained your strength, I want to inform you both about our plans going forward.”
The two he referred to were, of course, Citri and Gremony. Seere glanced at Nahun as if to ask if she could listen to the conversation, and he nodded.
“You both will start preparing for war from now on. Naturally, the target is…”
“The 34th floor, right?”
“Eh? What are you talking about?”
“Huh? Isn’t that right? The floor above us is the 34th floor?”
Nahun, taken aback by how naturally Citri said this, replied incredulously.
“His Majesty Marbas is the Demon King of the Nobilis faction like us.”
“Oh… that’s right.”
“Although it hasn’t been announced yet, His Majesty Marbas will soon make a statement. We have joined the Nobilis faction.”
“Then where should we start attacking?”
In response to Citri’s question, Nahun answered.
“His Majesty Marbas on the 34th floor, His Majesty Harpas on the 33rd floor, and His Majesty Phenex on the 32nd floor are all Demon Kings of our Nobilis faction.”
“Wait, then…”
“Yes.”
Directly after Asmodeus’s disappearance, a new Demon King had taken the throne.
“Floor 31 of Asmodeus will be our first target.”
“…Wait, wasn’t Asmodeus also a member of the Nobilis faction? Wouldn’t that mean his son is the same?”
“Would someone stay in a faction after their father, the leader of the Nobilis faction, disappeared without even looking for him or taking responsibility? He withdrew from the faction as soon as he ascended the throne.”
“O-Oh, I see. Gremony, did you know this?”
“Yes, of course…”
Citri scratched her cheek awkwardly, thinking, “Why was I the only one who didn’t know?” Nahun looked at her in fascination.
‘At times like this, it’s amazing that she rose to rank 12.’
Of course, Nahun knew well why. That is why he was trying to restore her strength in any way possible.
“Wait, then what about the sealing stones on floors 34, 33, and 32?”
“…There are no sealing stones there, Your Majesty.”
“Uh… really?”
“The next sealing stone is on the 30th floor.”
“That’s… where His Majesty Stolas is located, right? Are they in the same faction as us?”
“No.”
Nahun replied.
“They are in the Plebs faction.”
“…Is it okay to touch that faction?”
Nahun understood Citri’s cautious question. There was always a reason why she suddenly acted scared.
“To be honest, in the current context where the Equites faction has lost power, the presence of the Plebs faction is overwhelming. And the Nobilis faction is currently without His Majesty Marbas on the front line.”
Moreover, there was the problem that there were actually two top-tier Demon Kings in the Plebs faction. Although Seere had previously single-handedly crushed a coalition that included a Demon King from the Plebs faction, the Plebs faction already bore a grudge against them. So, anything they did here wouldn’t remove that grudge, but the situation could worsen.
While Paimon might try to keep the situation from escalating, it was uncertain how long that would be possible.
Citri nodded in agreement with Nahun’s perspective.
“So! Shouldn’t we not touch them then?”
“But it’s fine.”
“What? Why is it fine?”
“We will elevate the Nobilis faction as a faction opposing the Plebs faction.”
Citri and Gremony were both slightly taken aback. The Nobilis faction is a faction that desires neutrality. But now, Nahun’s statement implied… they would break that neutrality and get involved in faction wars.
Seere was also hearing this for the first time, so she spoke up, somewhat flustered.
“There will be a strong backlash from the Nobilis faction. After all, His Majesty Marbas won’t allow it.”
“It’s alright. You’ve shown your strength, and when you become the leader, it will be you, not Marbas, who will be the head of the faction. And…”
Nahun added one more thing.
“The neutrality of the Nobilis faction was always about wanting to avoid fighting both the Equites and Plebs factions simultaneously. This isn’t a moment where they’ve broken that balance. Inside the Nobilis faction, they will also be worried about the growing size of the Plebs faction, so surprisingly, there might not be strong opposition.”
Seere, Citri, and Gremony looked at Nahun. In his eyes, there was conviction.
‘That look again…’
Citri, of course, and Gremony also thought it was quite fascinating. It was all just a plan, but when looking at that convinced gaze… you somehow felt that he would make it happen.
“For that, you all need to at least reach the levels of the top-tier Demon Kings. For that, we have to surpass Asmode first.”
“…I understand.”
“Alright. But you’re not just going to tell us to fight blindly; you gathered us here to talk about a specific plan, right?”
At Gremony’s question, Nahun nodded. He then waved his hand without looking back. Suddenly, Iris appeared and brought someone with her.
“Hm?”
“She is…”
“I’d like to introduce her. She’s Ariana, whom we ‘invited’ as a researcher for our military equipment during the last war.”
“Hello.”
Seeing her politely greet them, Citri responded incredulously.
“Invited? More like brainwashed.”
“You catch on quickly with these things.”
“It’s hard not to notice. How strong was the brainwashing?”
Although they were having that conversation right in front of her, Ariana seemed unaffected by it. That meant she had undergone strong brainwashing.
“It can’t be helped. She’s a talented individual that’s hard to give up on because of her extreme loyalty.”
“…Usually, people like that are cleaned out, right? Even considering good faith.”
“Isn’t it a waste of talent? If she can be useful, we should use her.”
Citri and Gremony both made faces of disgust at that statement.
‘Sometimes she’s more extreme than our Demon King, isn’t she?’
‘There are times when she is quite scary…’
Forgetting the expressions of disgust from the two Demon Kings, Nahun addressed Ariana.
“Show it to them.”
“Yes, Nahun.”
After a moment, Ariana stepped back and heaved a large box towards them. Gremony, the owner of the floor, hadn’t even known when this was brought.
“This will make your war a little easier.”
“What is that?”
“Let’s open it.”
It was a box too large to be just a weapon. Yet it didn’t seem like it contained much. Citri and Gremony tilted their heads as they opened the box, and once they looked inside, they remarked with slight confusion.
“Armor?”
“It’s armor. There’s also a helmet, gloves, and combat boots.”
It was a well-made set of armor. Citri and Gremony couldn’t understand how this would lead them to victory in war.
“Ariana, explain it.”
“Yes, Nahun.”
Following Nahun’s command, Ariana explained to the two confused Demon Kings.
“That armor is designed to release and absorb magical power. You can think of it as a kind of generalized ‘magic armor.’”
“Magic armor?”
“Yes. Just like true magic armor absorbs the user’s magical power to exert its performance, this does the same. Of course, you can’t expect explosive performance like real magic armor, though.”
Ariana placed her hand on the armor and poured a small amount of magical power into it.
“The small amount of magical power sent to the armor…”
The armor absorbed the magical power, creating a thin shield over the solid armor with a slight glow. Even without incantations, a protective barrier formed over the armor.
“It generates a shield on its own.”
“…What the…”
“On a battlefield where arrows are flying and magical bombardments rain down, being able to defend just one attack can often be quite significant.”
It was Nahun who spoke next.
“If soldiers can hold out even for a moment longer while bombardments rain down, many more options can arise.”
“How did you make something like this?”
“I don’t know either. Only she knows.”
Nahun gestured to Ariana.
“Remember the magic cannon I showed you before?”
“That efficient weapon?”
“Yes. This is her masterpiece. Hence why I said it’s hard to give her up.”
While under Phynox, she had to command, train, and develop military weapons, making the development of military equipment slow. She hadn’t received much support either.
But now that Nahun completely cut those matters out and allowed her to focus solely on research, with ample support, she was able to produce such results quickly.
“Can it be mass-produced?”
“It’s already in mass production at our forge. I think we can supply it to both of your armies within three weeks.”
“…Three weeks is the deadline.”
“Yes.”
The fact that the production period was three weeks meant they needed to prepare for war during that time. In the meantime, Marbas would make a statement, and Gremony and Citri needed to finalize negotiations to clear the path from the 34th to the 32nd floor.
“That’s a bit tight.”
“We would like to help as well, but we have things we need to do on our end.”
“Wait, you said you would provide support?”
“We will. However, if we send in too many troops, it would look like we’re attacking the lower floors. The scale of support will be…”
Nahun raised a finger.
“It’s limited to one legion.”
“What?”
“We’re also providing equipment. That should be enough.”
Citri looked at him with slightly skeptical eyes, but Nahun simply said.
“This is a chance for proof.”
“No, what do you need proof for? We’ve succeeded just by following orders!”
When Citri bristled at him, Nahun shook his head while looking at her. At that moment, Citri thought he meant that he wanted further proof, but soon realized it wasn’t about her. The one who needed to prove something was…
“I understand.”
“You don’t think the timing is too early, right?”
“No. This opportunity, I…”
In this war, the one who needed to prove their worth was actually Gremony.
“I will show you that I have value as an ally.”
Three weeks. It wasn’t a very generous time to prepare for war. However, just because there wasn’t much time didn’t mean they could do nothing at all. As time passed, the situation would continue to develop.
“It would be good to prepare training together, Citri.”
“Yes. That would be faster. I’ll move my forces to the 35th floor.”
Citri and Gremony decided to thoroughly continue their preparations for war, cooperating with each other. Nahun, pleased to see them collaborating right from the start, nodded and reiterated their goal.
“Alright. The primary target is the conquest of Asmodeus and the 31st floor. The secondary target is the conquest of the 30th floor and securing the sealing stone.”
Nahun smiled broadly.
“I believe you can accomplish it.”
“I’ll trust you. You two are my precious allies.”
With Seere’s brief but heartfelt encouragement, their preparations for war began.
