Chapter 226

Chapter 226

Following Nahun, who was heading somewhere, Citri followed with a look of slight puzzlement.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“How far do we have to go? This seems like… the outskirts already.”

“The seal stone of His Majesty is located in a remote area.”

Nahun indicated that he hadn’t brought her to a pointless place, but Citri’s doubts remained unaddressed. She spoke with an air of confusion.

“How do you know that? I haven’t heard of the exact location of the seal stone either.”

That was Citri’s greatest question. Nahun glanced back at her and then continued walking ahead.

“Is that important? What matters is that we can reclaim His Majesty’s power.”

“Well…”

Citri also knew that Nahun was not an ordinary demon. The enormous magic power and immense strength Nahun had previously displayed were far beyond the capabilities of a typical demon.

“…Nahun.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll take it that you helping Seere is understandable since it seems to align with your goals.”

“That’s correct.”

“Then why am I helping?”

Nahun paused for a moment. He turned to look at Citri and spoke.

“You have a lot of questions today.”

“…I’ve been curious, but we don’t get many chances to be alone, so I couldn’t ask before.”

“Is that so?”

“So? Is there any particular reason for that?”

“Do you want to know?”

“Yes.”

Citri felt uncomfortable receiving his help while still having unanswered questions and wanted to clearly understand his intentions or objectives to feel reassured.

“To sum it up, it’s because it helps Seere.”

“…Huh?”

Citri was puzzled.

“I don’t think I’ve really significantly helped until the early days.”

“That too is an undeniable fact that it was a great help.”

“Are you saying you’re repaying that favor?”

“Isn’t it because we had made a contract in the first place? And right now, it’s just that Seere is temporarily far ahead, and it has turned out this way, but His Majesty’s potential is overflowing.”

“Hmm?”

“When you reclaim your sealed power, you will at least be stronger than the two current top-ranking demon kings.”

It was true that Lezargie, who had lost an arm and weakened, and Vilred, who conspired to undermine Citri, were both considerably powerful.

“If I had a true ally with that kind of strength, there would be no greater power.”

It was clear that he would surpass the two demon kings. Moreover…

“And every time you regain strength, I will continue to train His Majesty. Ultimately, when all powers are restored, he will be stronger than before.”

“…Can I get stronger than before?”

“I believe I mentioned this back when I first started training as well. So helping His Majesty and maintaining an alliance with him is equivalent to helping Seere.”

Nahun stated.

“My goal is always the same as His Majesty thinks. It’s to ensure Seere stands at the top. I would never deliberately do anything that does not contribute to that.”

Nahun finished his statement and looked at Citri. Did it resolve her doubts? Citri looked at Nahun for a moment, then nodded and said.

“Ah, I get it. So your goal has been the same from the beginning?”

“It seems so.”

If that were the case, there was one more question. If helping Citri was for Seere, then why did he start helping Seere in the first place? However, since Nahun had already offered a gentle answer to her earlier question, Citri swallowed this one and held back.

Nahun led Citri a bit further, and their destination was a forest dense with large trees.

“Here it is.”

“It’s inside here…?”

“Well, it’s a seal stone, so it makes sense to hide it.”

“…That’s true. Are other seal stones also like this?”

“Yes.”

It had to be hidden. There was no guarantee that Citri wouldn’t use her subordinates to break the seal stone and flee.

“Please, come inside.”

Following Nahun into the forest, Citri stepped in as well. Suddenly, the enormous trees around them opened their large eyes and stared at the intruders.

“Wait, Ent? Aren’t you guarding this place!?”

“It’s alright.”

What appeared to be massive trees were known as Ents, the guardians of the forest. Given their combat prowess in such a vast forest, Citri was understandably flustered.

However, as Nahun stated it was fine, the Ents took no action even upon seeing them. They closed their eyes again, and Citri tilted her head in confusion.

“What’s going on…? Why aren’t they doing anything?”

“His Majesty can sometimes seem very foolish.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The ruler of this tier has become His Majesty Gremony, so it would naturally not be a problem.”

“…Ah, that’s right.”

Perhaps it was because not much time had passed since the hierarchical transition, Citri still hadn’t adjusted. Nahun chuckled softly, and Citri frowned, as if saying not to laugh.

“Please, follow me. It’s further in.”

As Nahun had said, when they entered deeper into the forest, they found a massive mineral emitting a green glow. Citri’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight. Seeing her reaction, Nahun remarked.

“It seems you can feel it.”

“……Yes.”

Some of the power she had lost was trapped within. Citri slowly approached it and reached out her hand. As if responding to her magic, the power within the seal stone surged.

“It’s my magic.”

Her voice conveyed an emotion of disbelief. Nahun observed her and said.

“From now on, we will continue to seek out seal stones, gradually restoring His Majesty’s power.”

“To do that, we have to conquer the tiers. You guys, having gone to the 25th floor, can do that?”

“No, we cannot. Conquering lower tiers in the Demon World is frowned upon. Therefore, it is not something we do…”

Nahun pointed to Citri.

“His Majesty and His Majesty Gremony must accomplish it together.”

“…Us?”

“Yes. Of course, according to the contract, we will help His Majesty as well, in the form of support. However, the primary initiative must still come from His Majesty.”

Citri looked at Nahun, slightly skeptical.

“Can I really do it?”

“Why do you think you can’t?”

“I may not have done nothing as my rank increased, but… frankly, I thought I couldn’t counter what Barbatos said. Whether me and my subordinates have the ability to be within the top 30 ranks.”

“……”

“Of course, I do have some exceptional subordinates, like Belkarus… but they’re top-ranking demon kings, after all.”

Citri gazed at the seal stone once more. Though there was a vast amount of magic sealed within, even if she reclaimed this, it would be insignificant compared to the original power Citri had.

“But my ability is the problem.”

To Citri’s assertion, Nahun simply replied as if questioning what the problem was.

“…It’s alright.”

“What do you mean it’s alright?”

“First, let’s try to recover your power.”

Citri tilted her head but decided to follow Nahun’s advice and recover her strength. As she placed her hand on the seal stone and channeled her magic, the green glow emitted by the seal stone cracked.

Bang—!!

Eventually, the massive seal stone shattered into pieces. The power that had been trapped surged out and was absorbed by her.

“How does it feel?”

At Nahun’s question, Citri smiled brightly. Compared to the power she used to possess, it was weak. Nevertheless, she could definitely feel a sense of having regained this power, even if only a little…

“It’s amazing.”

A bright smile broke across Citri’s face.

#

Nahun could clearly see that Citri’s magic had significantly increased. Given how weak her previous state was, it was notable that she was once one of the top-ranking demon kings.

Citri spoke in a slightly excited tone.

“So? What do we do now?”

“We won’t be leaving here for a while.”

“…Huh?”

“Now that the Ents who guard the seal stone have fulfilled their role, they must be given rest.”

Ents are demons as well, but unlike others freely living in the forest, those here were already exhausted. Countless ages had passed since they started guarding the seal stone. Even to consider them ordinary plants, they had lived for a long time almost forcefully.

However, the Ents likely did not even realize that and would continue to think to guard this forest. They were already in a state where the imprint of being guardians of the seal stone was engrained in their minds and would live on in this state for ages, hardly knowing if they were alive or dead.

Thus, it was time to liberate them. To bestow them with peaceful rest and free them from their shackles.

“I have already obtained permission from His Majesty Gremony.”

Suddenly, Nahun began to spread his magic. Citri was a bit taken aback, and in response to his magic, the Ents opened their eyes.

“Hey, what are you doing!? All of them are waking up! If you forcibly wake the Ents…!”

“It’s training.”

“What do you mean by suddenly training?”

Nahun smiled confidently as he spoke.

“I hope that His Majesty can grant the Ents peace.”

“……What?”

While Citri stared blankly at him, Nahun ascended into the air using his magic. To ensure that Citri wouldn’t escape and couldn’t easily wield her magic.

Boom!!!!

“Hey, you…!!”

He suppressed the area with magic. It took time as Nahun’s magic was still returning slowly, but now he could manage this much. Nahun stated.

“Didn’t you say, acting within the powerful magic space of another?”

“I’ve acted, but I’ve never tried to exert my magic…!”

“Then try it out. That’s the purpose of this training.”

“Here…?”

This place had been dominated by Nahun’s magic, leaving no space to wield her own. Citri looked at him in desperation, but Nahun spoke coldly.

“You stated it yourself. You said you couldn’t contradict the words of His Majesty Barbatos.”

“…!”

“If you can’t accomplish that, the situation will remain where you can’t contradict. But if you can, then…”

Nahun spoke resolutely.

“You will prove that you are a demon king with strength befitting your current rank.”

“……Really.”

“Yes.”

No matter how strong the Ents were in their territories and how numerous they were, they wouldn’t be able to stop Citri, who had reclaimed some of her powers. Thus, Nahun spread his magic throughout the area and imposed a penalty on Citri.

This penalty was so severe that if any average mid-tier demon king were tossed here, they would struggle to breathe. Thankfully, Citri had been accustomed to moving within Nahun’s magic space, which is why she seemed to be okay so far.

‘It’s time to show the results of the training so far.’

Looking down at Citri with expectant eyes, Nahun provocatively spoke.

“Then do your best.”

“If you keep this up, I’ll go out and hit you!”

“Do that. If you can come out.”

“You…!”

Regardless of whether Citri was angry or not, Nahun leisurely soared through the sky. Citri glared at him momentarily before looking at the threatening Ents.

“Ha.”

Citri hadn’t fully adjusted to the power she had regained in a long time. However, for some reason, like Nahun said, could she really do it?

That thought crossed her mind. Citri concentrated her magic in one place. She sharply expelled it and attempted to break through a portion of Nahun’s magic that controlled the area.

And then.

Swoosh!!

A sharp root of a tree shot up from the space that Citri had created. Citri quickly reacted and dodged, but she couldn’t help but be startled.

“Wha—? That scared me…!”

The Ents, who had not attacked until now, launched their attack as soon as the magic space was breached. Citri looked up at Nahun and exclaimed.

“What did you do!?”

“I didn’t do anything. Your Majesty, think carefully. If you create space, is that space entirely your own?”

Citri’s eyes widened. It wasn’t simply that her magic being dominated by another was the only penalty she faced. As soon as Citri created space by neutralizing Nahun’s magic, the Ents, who were equally suppressed by magic, could also utilize that space.

“…Hah!”

So the more space Citri created for her attacks, the more intense the Ents’ attacks became. That too was a penalty she had to bear. Realizing that fact, Citri gritted her teeth and glared at the Ents.

“Okay, so that’s how it is.”

Citri drew her sword that was sheathed at her waist.

“I’ll get it done! I’ll slice them all and knock you out!!”

Nahun looked at Citri for a moment, then smiled lightly and said.

“Good luck.”

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