Chapter 623

I had gone to persuade Illeion Volten to join our cause. Instead of getting to speak with him directly, I ended up receiving a gentle yet firm rebuke from the Duchess.

It wasn’t just fools who became tyrants or despots. In fact, the foolish acts a king could commit were countless.

A foolish king could be a tyrant who killed his people without any guiding principles, or one who waged endless wars of conquest without justification.

Yet, being overly considerate of outsiders and hesitating to eliminate enemies who hadn’t yet shown their true colors could also be a form of tyranny.

The Duchess pointed out that my criteria for deciding who needed to be killed was far too narrow.

In these perilous times, where even the slightest hint of a threat called for decisive action, I was criticized for hesitating to eliminate those whose loyalties were uncertain.

Wasn’t it enough to just kill one’s enemies? Or was that too humane a way of thinking?

To be certain that someone was an enemy, they would have already bared their teeth, so conflict would be inevitable. One had to be able to eliminate threats before they became clear enemies.

I wasn’t born with the talents of a king. But how long could I hide behind that excuse?

Now that I was king, claiming I lacked the necessary qualities was just an excuse to justify my actions.

The Duchess had expressed her concerns, calling my approach dangerous, and I had no good way to respond.

I understood her concerns.

Even though protecting the flock within the fence was already a challenge, I still lived with the hope that the beasts outside might also be sheep. But a king had to safeguard those within the fence while viewing everything beyond it as a threat, and I wasn’t doing that. If a ruler with my mindset governed the land where my children and I lived, I wouldn’t be pleased either.

She wasn’t asking me to kill Illeion Volten. She was questioning whether I planned to keep going down this path, and if I realized just how dangerous that could be.

She wasn’t only concerned about me bringing in those whose loyalties were uncertain, but about my entire approach to dealing with external forces.

No nation had ever been built on love, understanding, and mercy alone. A throne was established through conquest and had to be sustained with blood.

If someone asked me whether I was oblivious to these harsh realities, I couldn’t claim ignorance. It was just difficult to accept.

The Duchess wasn’t revealing some secret that only she knew. She was voicing what everyone around me understood, but chose not to say, perhaps out of pity, knowing how hard it was for me to face, or because they didn’t want to add to my burdens.

The Duchess was giving voice to what everyone around me knew, but never told me. That, too, took courage.

The walk was just the right duration.

We strolled in silence, the air thick with unspoken words.

When we returned to the mansion, Illeion Volten and Charlotte were waiting outside.

‘Has their conversation already ended?’

“Reinhart, Sir Volten would like a word with you,” Charlotte said.

I was surprised. “Really?”

I wasn’t sure how their discussion had gone, but from Charlotte’s expression, it didn’t look to have ended poorly.

***

I had a private conversation with Illeion Volten, not inside the mansion, but outside.

The beach still bore the footprints from my earlier walk.

I wasn’t sure what he and Charlotte had discussed, but my heart felt heavier.

“I feel like I’ve never had a choice,” Illeion Volten said.

I considered that for a moment. “Is that so?”

In the original story, Leverier Lanche had been the head of the Order of the Holy Knights, and that remained unchanged for the rest of the story. Olivia Lanche had faded into the background, while Illeion Volten was another character on the fringes.

I didn’t know anything about Leverier Lanche’s personal history, so it was no surprise that I knew little about Illeion Volten’s either. All I knew about him was in the public domain.

After the fall of the radical Leverier Lanche, the more moderate Illeion Volten was appointed as the new head of the Order of the Holy Knights.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

It probably hadn’t been his personal choice. The Empire had wanted Illeion Volten in that position, probably because they wanted to keep Leverier Lanche, a key figure and war hero from the Great War, in check. I wasn’t sure how much the popes had been swayed by that decision, but it was clear that the popes wouldn’t have wanted the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights to become too powerful either.

Illeion Volten’s rise to leadership had been because of a confluence of circumstances. Whether he desired the role or not didn’t matter.

Even up to the moment before the Gate Incident was triggered, he had been swayed by the opinions of the pope, Ellen, and Olivia.

As time went on, the popes decided on their own turn the Church and the Order of the Holy Knights over to the service of the Demon King. Then, just a few days after that decision, he was forced to step down as the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights.

Now, he was being offered a role as a holy knight within the Holy Order, with the possibility of returning to his old position.

It seemed he was a man that was easily pushed around by circumstances, despite his own authority, strength, and power. It was a clear demonstration of how even the strongest could be influenced by forces greater than them.

“And now, to learn that even the gods I’ve believed in were all lies...”

From the beginning, the human teachings about the Five Great Gods and the Demon Gods were all fabrications. There was no truth anywhere to be found, and even faith had been twisted to suit another’s agenda.

“It’s said that even Tiamata has two forms.”

“That’s right.”

“Can you show me?”

Was hearing about it not enough? Or did he need to witness firsthand that the gods’ powers were as arbitrary as the Holy Order claimed?

Either way, I summoned Tiamata into my right hand. It was Tiamata as he knew it, with its pure ivory blade. But this wasn’t what he was looking for.

Kurrrng!

I didn’t even need an incantation.

In response to my will, Tiamata’s blade turned pitch black, exuding a dark aura and dripping with inky darkness.

“This is the aura of corruption.”

Illeion Volten looked at the cursed sword Tiamata in silence.

“Is that enough?”

“It’s enough.”

I dismissed the cursed sword, and Illeion Volten gave a bitter smile.

“Are the gods truly malevolent, or have we just misunderstood them all along? If it’s a misunderstanding, why do they encourage and support our misconceptions...?”

The belief that gods were beyond human understanding was universal. But even while they were misunderstood, they still bestowed power upon us.

Humans had assumed their faith was correct because the gods granted them power, but perhaps they did so despite humanity’s errors. If that were so, then what were the gods, really?

These were the profound questions that Illeion Volten found himself grappling with.

“The Holy Order likely doesn’t fully grasp the nature of the Great Gods either,” I said.

The Demon Gods and the Great Gods were essentially the same entities. And yet, it was uncertain whether the Five Great Gods were truly who they claimed to be.

“I can’t reveal my source for this, but would you like to hear an intriguing fact?” I said.

“Is there anything left that could surprise me?”

“I was once told that vampires originate from the Sun God and the Moon God.”

This was the truth I learned from Luna Artorius.

Vampires, it turns out, had divine origins.

Those who had longed for immortality prayed to the moon, receiving its blessing while at the same time, incurring the sun’s curse. That was how vampires had been born, or so I was told.

Those who sought forgiveness from the gods over the ages were eventually pardoned, but in return, they had to become beings forever isolated from the world.

“I’d like to dismiss it as an elaborate joke, but it doesn’t seem like one,” Illeion Volten said with a wry smile, as if acknowledging that even such an unlikely tale might hold truth.

“Saying I had no choice in any matter is actually a lie,” he admitted.

“Hmm...?”

“When it came to leading the Order of the Holy Knights, I had no opinion on it. I could have refused, but I didn’t. If I truly believed the Demon King should be killed or spared, I could have acted on it either way. But I didn’t make a choice. If I wanted to oppose the popes’ decision to side with you, I could have spoken up. But I stayed silent.”

He sighed. “When you demanded my retirement and appointed Rowen as my replacement, if I didn’t like it, I could have drawn my sword. But I didn’t do that either. I just went with the flow. I always have. Looking back, I realize there’s no life more cowardly than mine.”

It wasn’t right to say that he never had a choice. He had simply chosen to drift along with the current, avoiding the difficult choices. He had power and strength, yet he willingly lived a life of mediocrity, always following the crowd.

It was never about discerning right from wrong. He merely identified the majority opinion, what the trends were, and then went with that flow. Neither a staunch supporter, nor a fierce opponent.

Was he simply being carried along, or was he skillfully riding the waves?

Illeion Volten seemed to dismiss his earlier claim of having no choice as a weak excuse.

“So, are you saying you’re finally going to make a decision on your own?”

Illeion Volten looked at me. “Not at all. This is just where the current is taking me.”

No matter how much Charlotte tried to convince him, if Illeion Volten joined the Holy Order, it would still be following someone else’s lead.

In the end, he offered no resistance.

“Maybe being a coward forever isn’t so bad after all. At least I can hold onto the principle of consistency,” Illeion Volten mused.

A life without conviction or pride.

There might have been a time when he believed he possessed those qualities, but he had finally admitted he was too timid to claim them. Since he had lived as a coward forever, he would at least be consistent in his cowardice.

He would not claim the consistency of a righteous life, but the consistency of being a coward through and through. Instead of making choices and forging his own path, he thought it better to fully embrace his cowardice.

It was an attitude steeped in despair.

“Considering that the rare decision to eliminate a subordinate turned out to be my worst decision, then perhaps I’m someone who shouldn’t be making decisions at all. Or is that just another excuse?” Illeion Volten said with a chuckle.

He laughed for a long time.

As always, the self-deprecation of an aging man inevitably carried a hint of sorrow.

After reflecting on his life, Illeion Volten had come to the realization that all he had left was cowardice.

That sorrow mingled with his self-deprecation, creating a deep sadness.

***

After chatting with Illeion Volten for a while longer, he said, “I’ve been exploring this country for the past few months.”

“It must have been quite a sight for you.”

Humans and demons coexisting together sometimes felt strange even to me.

“It was.”

Illeion Volten had likely fought in the Great War. To him, demons were just enemies to be slain. Although the villa itself was located in a sparsely populated area, it seemed he had gone into Rajak and had been traveling around, perhaps with the Duchess. Whether she had led him around or he had sought her out for that purpose, I couldn’t say.

“All I can say is that it feels like a strange country,” he remarked.

“It must be,” I replied.

He must have had many thoughts while observing what the Edina Archipelago had to offer.

“Ogres plowing fields, trolls constructing buildings, orcs standing guard, succubi sleeping beside orphaned children and comforting them, and mermaids appearing on the beach to joke with people... it is a strange country indeed.”

“Was something like this always possible?” he mused. “If it was, why did things have to be the way they were? Why did we fear and hate each other so much? Why did we have to kill and be killed? Why was there no other choice, and why did we accept that so easily? Where did those beliefs come from, and why did everyone embrace them? Seeing all this made me think about those questions.”

He looked up at the clear blue spring sky, then turned his gaze to me, curiosity in his eyes.

“Demon King... No. Reinhart.”

“Yeah?”

“This country, in some ways, is a disaster.”

A disaster, he said.

I thought it was better than the capital. But I understood what he meant.

“Do you realize how many people will despair when they learn that the long history of mutual hatred was pointless, that peace was possible all along?”

“That’s one way to see it.”

All the wars up until this point were meaningless.

The long-standing history of hatred and animosity, once thought justified, was now being challenged by the undeniable truth before them: for these two races, coexistence and symbiosis were indeed possible.

The Great War had been far from glorious. It had shattered humanity’s values and historical perspectives, leaving many feeling despair rather than hope.

“Did you feel despair?”

“Yes.”

Illeion Volten, more than anyone, must have felt a deep sense of despair as he took in this peaceful yet unfamiliar place. The beings he had killed, and those who had died—he must have realized that none of it had been necessary.

“If we had known this was possible, or if the world had always been like this, the Gate Incident might never have occurred.”

The reality we were facing had been born from mutual distrust.

If our society had been built on coexistence and harmony, there would have been no hatred, distrust, or fear of the Demon King. The Great War, the cause of all this suffering, might never have happened.

Instead, humans had invaded the demons’ lands.

All the world’s problems stemmed from a lack of trust and faith. That was the root of everything in this world.

It was almost laughable.

The Duchess had just told me to hate everyone beyond our borders. But Illeion Volten saw the potential for coexistence and realized how pointless all the bloodshed and tears had been.

Those who have never known war spoke of slaughter, while those who had experienced it spoke of peace. The latter understood the futility of violence.

“It wasn’t just humans who feared demons,” I said.

Demons felt the same fear. For a long time, demons feared humanity just as much as humans feared them. Eleris, once an ancient Archdemon, had once dreamed of humanity’s extinction. Even the former Demon King, Baalier, had been afraid of humans. That was why he longed for a world without them.

Both sides lived in fear of each other.

“I dislike this country,” Illeion Volten said with a resolute expression.

He had come to understand that peace was possible, and with that realization, he knew that the past could never be justified. The Great War had not been a victory over humanity’s ultimate enemy; it had simply been a massacre fueled by fear.

Confronted with this harsh truth, Illeion Volten couldn’t help but feel a deep aversion to what he saw of Edina.

“But because I dislike it, it’s a moment that must be preserved.”

In the end, these events revealed a possibility once deemed impossible. Despair was inevitable, yet it was not a moment that deserved to fade away.

The truth doesn’t disappear just because it’s denied. Even if one uncovers a truth one would rather not know, it cannot be erased from one’s mind.

Once a truth is etched into your consciousness, it remains.

Illeon Volten felt compelled to protect this truth.

***

After wrapping up my conversation with Illeion Volten, Charlotte and I began our journey back to Rajak.

“He’s agreed to cooperate, but what exactly did you discuss with him?” Charlotte asked.

It seemed Illeion Volten had already made up his mind to cooperate when he spoke with Charlotte.

Living a life of cowardice, always hiding in the shadows... Admitting that must have been hard for him.

“Just this and that. Nothing much,” I replied.

I wasn’t sure if Illeion Volten had confided in me alone about his fears or if he’d also shared them with Charlotte, but I didn’t want to pry any further into his personal struggles.

“He said this was a strange country,” I said.

Illeion Volten had been surprised to discover that coexistence and harmony between humans and demons was possible.

A strange country, indeed. The kind of place that would make those who advocated for demon extermination lose their minds.

“Indeed, it is a strange country,” Charlotte chuckled, clearly in agreement.

In truth, I also came from a world where demons were just myths, and humanity’s core was unchanged. The one who found this scene strangest was me.

But without knowing the long history of mutual hatred, I couldn’t fully understand the shock someone like Illeion Volten, a veteran of the Great War, would feel.

It was a story as old as time. There were those deemed worthy of death, those whose killing seemed justified. But after nearly wiping them out, it became clear that wasn’t true.

Like most wars, the Great War was no different. In reality, there were no beings who truly deserved to die.

“Everything went according to plan, but you don’t look too happy.”

“Oh, no. It’s fine. Really, it’s fine.”

“Then try smiling a little.”

At Charlotte’s suggestion, I managed a forced smile, though my mind was racing.

The Duchess had said that, to maintain peace, one had to be willing to kill without hesitation.

Illeion Volten had spoken of a war he’d once believed was just, only to be crushed by its pointlessness.

Perhaps the Duchess wasn’t entirely wrong. But if I followed the Duchess’s advice, I’d turn into Illeion Volten. I’d have to continue living in fear of my closest neighbors.

This fear had almost reached its end, and yet perhaps I was compelled to relive the same history.