The Demon King Seems to Conquer the World

A girl was walking on the battlefield. She had round ears as she walked with her loose, wavy hair fluttering.

Angelica Sacrament, the heir to the throne of the Tyrellme Godly Empire, was on the battlefield.

Even though it was a battlefield, this was the encampment at the rear position. Angelica was in charge of guarding the position while leading hundreds of people. Speaking of protecting the rear, it sounded good, but in reality, it was a sinecure that she couldn’t do anything about.

“Fuh…” (Angelica)

She called herself the best pick, and had trained on a regular basis. Even so, she was on the duty of the security which could be said to be boring. It was still morning, but she had already nothing to do.

Even if this was called the army headquarters, it was just a name, and the army had already begun to withdraw. In the battle three days ago, the cross allied forces to which Angelica belonged defeated the long-eared allied forces.

The other human race was called the Devil in the world of Isus religion. However, Angelica obeyed her late father’s command and stubbornly called them the Long Ears.

The Long Ears allied forces had already been defeated, and the army on this side was advancing. The punitive expedition units also served as a follow-up battle. It could be said that these units were chasing them at full speed. The surviving mercenaries were also busy and looting the surrounding village, so they couldn’t wait for the main camp to make a move.

Therefore, each country was in the process of mobilizing all the horses to carry only the simple tents for general officers and the food needed on the day. In other words, the main camp to prepare for the decisive battle that had already ended, was being dismantled right now, and the influential army corps hadn’t advanced.

Angelica, who wasn’t allowed to participate in the decisive battle and was forced to guard, had to put up a good appearance. Even though she had come to war, she couldn’t join in the war and couldn’t benefit from looting.

“Then, the turn of the retinue will follow. I’m going to visit the Papal States today.” (Angelica)

“Yes! Angelica-sama.” (??)

And, one of the knights knelt.

There were no influential corps here, and there were no mercenaries who caused trouble when they saw a woman. There was no one else except those who were injured. If so, it would be fine to go out alone, but that wasn’t the case.

Angelica was about to be assassinated by her brother, Alfred Sacrament. It wasn’t once or twice that he had tried to poison her. Therefore, her escort must always be there.

—

Angelica was loved by her father, who was the former king, Renitscht Sacrament, and unlike her older brothers, who grew up when the king was busy with work, he educated her directly.

As a result of the fierce battle for succession that took place after the death of her father, her four brothers all died while Alfred remained.

And Alfred, the third son, sat on the throne.

Out of the four brothers, Alfred was initially thought to have no chance of succession to the throne. This was because Alfred was still a young man at the age of 18 when Renitscht died.

To bear the heavy responsibility of being a king, his age could be said to be an infant, whereas his two older brothers were 31 and 28 years old, which was most expected to be promising. The two older brothers had already been given feudal estates, and had enough money from the order of cavalry and tax collection they had. In that respect, Alfred was the administrator of the king’s reserve territory, and he was tentatively a small feudal lord, but he had to start learning territorial management which he didn’t understand, and the succession opportunity had been laid open to his two older brothers.

However, seven years after the death of the former king, an incident occurred in which the eldest son was assassinated as a result of a fierce power struggle between the eldest son and second son. Ostensibly, assassinations between throne candidates were considered legal in the absence of the king, which was said to be the period during which the most sensible prince who had the qualities of the next king.

Otherwise, there would be a violent civil war. In the first place, to get on the good side of the prince-electors, the princes had to curry favor from the prince-electors while making moves aiming for the throne. However, if they killed each other, it would become a loss to the prince-electors.

As a result of the assassination, the second son had a reputation for killing his brother and his authority was lost. There was no evidence of assassination, but it was generally believed that the eldest son’s imperial guards retaliated against the second son’s territory and crushed it, which was the work of the second son.

Alfred stood up there and came into contact with the prince-elector. Did he feel that during the seven years he had enough experience to join the political conflict? Or was it because the tax revenue from the provisional territory stabilized? Perhaps, it was because he got the minimum necessary financial power.

As a result, Alfred borrowed money backed by the royal family territory as collateral while avoiding assassination from his second brother. He also used it as a bribe to the prince electors. In that way, he got the votes in the election.

It was an act of cutting down the royal family’s property. So, if the royal family was regarded as a household, his act could be said as an act of disloyalty. Angelica was of course indignant at it, but from Alfred’s point of view, if he lost and the second son became king, he would be assassinated. He would die nonetheless.

Alfred assassinated the second son and then his younger brother, the fourth son, after this coronation.

There had been more than once assassination attempts, but she escaped with trouble. In a decade of struggle for the successor, Angelica invited a renowned scholar as her tutor to gain knowledge while she was still at a young age. While learning, she continued to devote her power to seizing her provisional territory, which she was in charge of, without entrusting it to others.

As a result, Angelica, at the young age of 18, had strong support from her territory. Even after Alfred became the king, it was difficult for him to take it with his power.

She kept paying her attention in every corner of her castle, so she didn’t have to worry about being poisoned as long as she was in the castle. If the assassin broke into her territory, she would know it immediately. By creating such a system, Angelica managed to protect herself.

—

“…Phew.” (Angelica)

Angelica was sitting in a shabby chair and twisting her neck,

In front of her, there was only ash and charcoal in a wide area.

Three days ago, a huge fire broke out here, and all the camps in the area were burned down. No one was trying to get rid of the burn-out ruins, as this wasn’t a castle or town. It would become a plain field after a while. After all was over, there would only be a black burn mark left in the grassland.

This was the base camp of the Catholic Papal States, which had little to do with the Tyrellme Godly Empire. Of course, since they fought side by side on the battlefield, there was a sense of being in the same boat.

However, since they had already won the decisive battle, it could be said that this damage had no effect on their country.

She was interested in how the enemy was doing it.

‘Did they use some kind of animal oil…? Or will it ignite if you add something like olive oil?’

‘Fire attack has a very important meaning in the war.’

‘But oil isn’t something so easy to ignite. It’s sometimes used in defense battles at castles by covering enemy soldiers with boiled oil or shooting fire arrows, but there’s no use for oil in field battles. The fire attack used the land environment such as grasslands especially in the dry season because it isn’t something that people could actively sprinkle the ground with oil and burn it.’

‘Similar weapons include gunpowder balls or grenades. This is a porcelain container containing gunpowder and iron pieces with a fuse. Although it was actually used, it’s quite inconvenient and unexpectedly difficult to use.’

‘Since it’s basically a mere gunpowder ball, it’s necessary to throw it into the enemy unit after igniting the fuse. First of all, there’s a danger of being hit by a bow, crossbow or gun that has a longer range than throwing by hand and falling.’

‘In addition, the fuse may be too short and it would explode in the air, or it may explode while in the hand. If there’s a person sitting in the enemy’s camp, it may be picked up and thrown back if the fuse was still long. Although it’s a powerful weapon, there was no end to the shortcomings.’

‘The Long Ears used it, so in reality, there might have been such a weapon. But those who saw the turmoil, thought something was falling continuously from the sky, and the flame spread after that. All of them said the same thing.’

‘If it was a throwing gunpowder ball, it was strange to give such an expression. The expression that it exploded with a roaring sound was missing.’

‘Here in the Papal States’ luggage loading area, after the Long Ears dropped something, it burned into gunpowder and exploded, which caused this situation. However, the gunpowder was stored separately at the joint loading side of the Peninsula Kingdom and the Flusha Kingdom, which was targeted before that, so the damage was minimal.’

‘Although the gunpowder was put in a barrel that was strong against water, the gunpowder was piled up outside the camp which could get wet in the rain. It seemed that it was something that the Papal States people would do, but…’

‘Anyhow, if they used a big gunpowder ball, it would be strange to just burn it. It should explode first, then it burned. That should be the order.’

‘After all, it must have fallen something flammable that easily ignited. This was also a bit different from the testimony, but they might have thrown something like a lit torch that split in the air…’

“You guys, did you come up with anything?” (Angelica)

Angelica asked the people around her without turning her face. She wasn’t looking for a decent answer. She somehow just wanted to know the opinions of others.

“Angelica-sama.” (??)

But there was a Knight who raised her hand.

“Oi.” (Angelica)

“Aah.” (??)

Angelica glared at the Knight.

“I’ve been saying this over and over again. Call me Angie. If you say something foolish, you know what you’ll get.” (Angelica)

“S-sorry… Angie-sama.” (??)

The Knight hurriedly rephrased.

Angelica wanted to hold her head, wondering when would this name permeate. She had been saying this to her soldiers for eight years, but they still didn’t get it.

The fact that she wanted her subordinates to call her Angie didn’t mean that she wanted them to call the nickname casually. It was simply because she didn’t like her pretty-sounding name, Angelica.

Her father, Renitsch, called her Angie, and she liked that name too. It was shorter and easier to say, and it felt firm to be called by that name. Angelica sounded feminine and weak.

In other words, it meant that she should change the name whenever she liked it. She didn’t make an unreasonable request to be called Lord or Master, but her nickname. She didn’t have to worry to be called Angie. Of course, it wasn’t possible to call it easily like the nickname, so it was necessary to give honorifics such as -sama or Her Majesty.

However, the soldiers and servants, who served her, didn’t want to call her Angie-sama or Her Majesty Angie because it felt like they would call her by her nickname. Therefore, in a place where there was no unrelated person, she would snap if people said ‘What’s wrong Angelica-sama?’.

“Hmm, it’s fine. Tell me.” (Angelica)

Angelica allowed him to speak.

“Yes. I thought of this when drinking yesterday, but I think they used alcohol…” (??)

“Aah.” (??)

Angelica involuntarily leaked her voice.

There was that method. Angelica still didn’t enjoy drinking, but some of the strong-smelling distilled liquors burn easily when lit. They might use that.

It seemed likely.

“Well done. That’s highly likely.” (Angelica)

“Yes!” (??)

“Alright. Let’s consider it when we go home.” (Angelica)

That said, when she thought about it, she was skeptical.

Aside from oil, even if the liquor contained alcohol, wasn’t more than half of it water?

She had seen people liquor sprinkled on a well-baked pot for cooking, but she wondered if it was like throwing a lit liquor bottle and burning it.

“…By the way, is there any news about the Long Ears who escaped being caught?” (Angelica)

When she asked that…

“There’s none. The lizard rider hasn’t returned yet.” (??)

The answer came back from another Knight.

The Long Ears eagle rider who did this was made to crash by the Dragon Knight, who had arrived specially this time.

The Dragon Knight was a type of soldier owned by the countries in the Cocolulu region, which was originally a religion that was hostile to the Isus religion. In the world of Isus, the existence of the dragon itself was detested. However, they sometimes appeared even in the Isus countries.

The Dragon Knight, who came this time, was the one who was on the losing side in the battle for the kingship of the Entak Dragon Kingdom. He seemed to have been a kind of exile. She heard that he made a living in the Peninsula Kingdom by making his dragon like a show, but when he made a lot of money in the Papal States, he came to the north to work.

That was good, but he shot down two eagles. One of the Long Ear riding on one of them was found dead. The other had escaped and was being pursued.

The mysterious thing was that the Dragon Knight, who escaped at the same time, hadn’t yet appeared. In the story, he was chasing another Long Ear for the prize money. It seemed that it was a logical course of action, but in Angelica’s sense, it wasn’t logical.

Certainly, if he brought back one ear, he would be paid, but the Dragon Knight had already received a large amount of advance payment. Moreover, since he did a good job, he would get the rest of the money from the Papal States.

Compared to that money, the money that he could get by bringing back the ear was nothing more than a change.

With a lot of money he already had, he went into the forest just to get more money, chasing the Long Ears with weapons, would it be logical? Assuming that the Long Ears had become half-dead and half-lived due to the impact of the fall, it was possible to kill with a little chasing. But if it was so, it was strange that the Dragon Knight hadn’t come back for three days.

Anyhow, the other Long Ears must have been engaged in the operation, and if he was caught, she should have been able to find out what this new weapon was.

“Hmm… Let’s ask the progress from the people who are involved in the search operation. Where is the person in charge?” (Angelica)

Then, one of the Knights, who was the liaison between the camps, raised his hand.

“I know that person. Please follow me.” (??)

—

TLN:

• Please refer to map 3 if you don’t remember the location of each countries.