Dungeon Defense (WN)

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The plains became quiet.

It wasn’t only the human army.
The demons from the Crescent Alliance were also holding their breaths.
The 5 Demon Lords who had been listening from directly behind Dantalian―Rank 2 Agares, Rank 4 Gamigin, Rank 5 Marbas, Rank 8 Barbatos, and Rank 9 Paimon―were especially silent.

“Wow.
He’s a good talker.”

Gamigin’s relaxed voice broke the tension.

“Hasn’t it only been two days since he started preparing for this? That’s impressive.”

“Well, he can definitely make a living with just that tongue of his.”

Barbatos muttered.

“……But I didn’t think he’d be this good.
It must’ve probably been a hassle just to memorize that entire speech.”

“That speech might have surprisingly been improvised.
There are occasionally individuals who are loved by the Goddess Polyhymnia, after all.”

“Old man Marbas, I bet you everything I have that it wasn’t improvised.
If that speech was improvised, then every orator in the world would bite their tongues and kill themselves.”

The Demon Lords whispered among themselves.
A majority of them concluded that Dantalian’s speech had managed to splendidly put the human army into disarray. 

In the Demon Lord army, most generals and soldiers fight as one body and mind.
The human forces they often engage are usually the defenders of the Black Mountains and the armies sent by margraves.
These men also happen to be far from any internal strife.
Therefore, the concept of internal strife within one’s army was a rather foreign concept to the Demon Lord army.

This is the reason why most Demon Lords are not familiar with tricks and schemes.
They lead united armies against a united enemy.
They were more familiar than anyone else when it comes to tricking their enemies on the battlefield, but when it came to making the enemy fight against one another and defeating them politically, they were inexperienced.

However, there was one person.

“Everyone…….”

It was different for a single Demon Lord who was always interested in humans and believed that there was no other choice but to cooperate with them in order for demonkind to survive.

Paimon did her best to suppress her passion as she barely managed to squeeze out her words.

“Everyone, do you not realize the meaning behind that speech?”

“Hm?”

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Gamigin tilted her head.

“Meaning? Isn’t it a splendid ploy”

“It is more than that! That is a revolution!”

Paimon’s face became red.

“Human society is similar to demon society, but it is also different.
A hierarchy exists in demon society as well, but it is something that can be changed according to your abilities! Even if you are born as a goblin, it is more than possible to get promoted to one of the highest positions by developing yourself as a mage!”

Torkel, an individual who is both a goblin and an executive of the Keuncuska Firm, is a prime example of this.
He managed to raise his position through his skills and effort despite being a goblin.

“But this is not the case for humans…….
Everything for them is decided solely by their bloodlines! Even if they are gifted enough to become a knight, at most, they can only become a knight of the carpet.
They cannot overcome their bloodlines.
Dantalian has pointed out this intrinsic contradiction within human society! ……Ah!”

Paimon raised her brows as if she realized something.
She dropped her head and started to mutter to herself.

“Is that it……? Is this the reason!? This is why he spread the Black Death…….
This explains why he only provided black herbs to the upper class of human society, why he took Brandenburg as his land and subjugated those monsters…….
Was it all for this moment!?”

Her entire body became cold.
Once she realized that Dantalian was a dangerous individual, she used her personal connections and wealth to carry out an investigation on Dantalian.
She most likely knows more about what Dantalian has done more than any of the other Demon Lords present here, even Barbatos.

She thought that he was a witty man.
She was awed by his wisdom.
She also regretted the fact that she had rashly tried to attack him during the hearing.
Nevertheless, she still had her doubts about whether Dantalian truly did not spread the Black Death.

That hearing felt way too strange.
As soon as Dantalian whispered something to Ivar Lodbrok, the chairman of the Keuncuska Firm, Ivar Lodbrok’s attitude did a complete 180 as he acted as if nothing had ever happened.
Furthermore, her right-hand man, Torkel, killed himself.
……It was normal to think that something was weird.

Paimon was now certain.
Rank 71 Demon Lord Dantalian was undoubtedly the one who had created the Black Death! However, the Black Death was nothing compared to the true epidemic.
The truly terrifying epidemic had flowed out of Dantalian’s mouth just now.
This plague will swallow the entire continent in a matter of moments and corner hundreds of thousands of people.
The people will do so voluntarily!

Paimon could not stop her body from trembling.

At the same time, she felt happy.

The individual whom she thought was her enemy’s faithful servant until now turned out to actually be harboring thoughts similar to hers.
The fact that all people are equal.
The fact that any rational being should be equal and be the master of their own lives.

Dantalian was wise enough to avoid using direct words like equality and freedom.
He simply spoke about the frustrations the people must have about the nobles.
Thus, even the Demon Lords ended up only hearing Dantalian’s speech as ‘a ploy to divide nobles and commoners’.

But how could Paimon not see through it? How could she not see that the belief in equality is boiling underneath those words like magma? He was like her.
A comrade with shared ideals which even the other Demon Lords of the Mountain Faction did not understand or attempt to understand.

If this is the case, then that makes matters more urgent.

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‘We must stop him from giving the rest of his speech!’

Paimon had inserted a plot into this speech.
A critical plot.
She could not let Dantalian fall into that plot.
She has to do whatever she could now to convince the other Demon Lords to bring Dantalian back―.

“Oi, whore bitch.”

Barbatos then let out a snort and spoke.

“I don’t care if you’re going to go around like an imbecile on your own, but Dantalian wasn’t the one who spread the Black Death, you know? Are you still acting like this even though you were humiliated to such an extent during that hearing? You should drop your suspicions while you still can.”

“No, that is not the issue! No less than 150,000 humans have heard that speech.
150,000 and they are also normal people who have been armed! The history of the continent is going to…….”

Paimon noticed something once she raised her head to speak passionately again.
The 4 other Demon Lords were staring at her with incredibly impassive expressions.

‘Ah.’

She came to a realization.

‘They……they must think that I am trying to slander Dantalian.’

This wasn’t uncalled for.

She was clearly the most hostile Demon Lord towards Dantalian.
From the moment he appeared for the first time during the Walpurgis Night all the way up to this speech.
Paimon had incessantly been grabbing Dantalian by the ankle.

Dantalian was officially declared innocent during the hearing about the Black Death.
Paimon had apologized about that.
In truth, the fact that it ended with only an apology was a very lenient punishment.
It wouldn’t be weird if she felt indebted to Dantalian.
Despite this, Paimon chose to corner Dantalian.

It would not be strange for the other Demon Lords to tell her to give it a rest.

Barbatos spoke coldly.

“Is that why you made Dantalian the representative?”

“Pardon me?”

“Were you going to nitpick and reproach Dantalian regardless of what kind of speech he gave? Hah, this whore hasn’t come to her senses.
Hey, do I look like a complete pushover now since I let you growl at my Plains Faction once? Do you seriously want to fight?”

A sense of urgency filled Paimon further.

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“That is not what this lady intended, but―.”

“It doesn’t matter what your intentions were, just sit down and shut up.
It wouldn’t be weird for me to cut your head off right this instant.”

“Barbatos.”

Paimon called out to her rival desperately.

“Please believe me.
We must stop Dantalian’s speech.
He will be in danger if we let him continue.”

Barbatos’ expression didn’t change.
Her golden eyes glared at Paimon.

“I told you to shut up.”

“…….”

Paimon dropped her head.
There’s no way she could do anything if she can’t even persuade the leader of the Plains Faction.
Dantalian will now end up confronting the orators from the human side…….

It felt coincidental.
Out of the 200,000 humans and demons gathered on these vast plains, there were only two people, Imperial Princess Elizabeth von Habsburg and Paimon, the leader of the Mountain Faction, who could see Dantalian’s real intentions.
Dantalian’s greatest enemies contrarily understand him the most.

After suspecting and doubting Dantalian all this time, she finally found out that he was not her enemy.
However, it was too late.
Even if she wanted to save Dantalian from harm’s way, she could not do so.
If anything, once this speech is completely over, they will most likely return to being arch-rivals.
The trap that he is about to fall into was dug by none other than Paimon, after all.

Paimon closed her eyes tightly.

If I had found out sooner―even a little bit sooner.

“It seems the representative of the human army has come out.”

“Wow, she looks pretty! Who is she?”

“I don’t know.
The imperial princess of Habsburg and the queen of Brittany are probably the only females prominent enough in the human world to represent the human army.
Wouldn’t this be the imperial princess, then? Jeez.
She really is pretty, though.
She looks tasty.
I wouldn’t mind riding her once.”

“……Barbatos, I do not wish to discuss your preferences, but have you considered speaking with a little more dignity?”

The Demon Lords commented about the beauty of the human representative.
Imperial Princess Elizabeth’s silver hair shined like that of a Goddess.
Even the Demon Lords who had lived for thousands of years couldn’t help but be in awe of her beauty.

Paimon was excluded from the conversation as she was the only one with her head down.
There was nothing she could do.
She could only pray for Dantalian to get out of this crisis on his own in a wise manner.
This wasn’t something the person who had set the trap up to begin with should be praying for; however, there was nothing else Paimon could possibly do…….

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Imperial Princess Elizabeth appeared as a large visual image and looked this way. 

Elizabeth von Habsburg…….
Born as the third imperial princess, she will soon become the empress of the empire and eventually become the supreme ruler who conquers half of the continent.
A prodigy that’s good at handling military affairs, politics, combat, stratagems, the public sentiment, and diplomatic affairs.
All fans of acknowledge her as the best heroine.

If it weren’t for her, then the protagonist of the story would have simply lived as a strong, young man before fading away.
People that lose their families and villages in this era receive the worst treatment.
To make matters worse, the protagonist is from a slash-and-burn village.
He was no different from a slave.

Imperial Princess Elizabeth decides to appoint the protagonist after only seeing his skills.
Even though everyone around her opposed her decision greatly, she supported the protagonist till the very end.
As a result, she manages to completely drive out the Demon Lord army from the continent…….
You cannot possibly compare her to the average ruler.

I also liked her.
It made me emotional to see her before me.
She looked a lot younger compared to her illustrations from the game, but her white forehead, silver hair, firmly shut mouth, and sharp but clear eyes were undoubtedly characteristics of Imperial Princess Elizabeth.

She was like a roc that has yet to spread its wing or a dragon that hasn’t reached its prime.

However, she was now nothing more than an enemy that I have to thoroughly defeat.

“Elizabeth von Habsburg, the third imperial princess of the empire and also known as Earl Evatriae.
You truly do possess the charm to have rumors spread about you as the greatest beauty of the continent.
A true blessing for my eyes.”

Elizabeth raised her brow slightly.
Was she surprised that I knew about her?

Her expression didn’t change at all.
It remained imposing.
How regrettable.
It’d be nice if she panicked a little…….
A tiger is still a tiger even when they’re a cub, huh? She was not going to be an easy target.

Nonetheless, the mood itself was tense.
Well, it would be weirder if she didn’t feel anything after hearing that speech just now.
If you do not relax a little more, then I’m going to take the initiative, Imperial Princess of Habsburg.
Are you prepared?

“Your grand lie was quite the spectacle to behold.”

“Oh? Are you saying that I am lying?”

The imperial princess nodded.

“That is so.
From start to finish, your tongue has only uttered lies and deceit.”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter.
Something about this part has made me pick up the pace.
Let’s see how long I can maintain this speed.
I’m sure a lot of you guys are looking forward to these chapters as well.

Nothing else to say, so I’ll see you guys in the next chapter!