Chapter 12 : Terrible and horrifying

Demon Realm. Demon Monarch’s Castle.

The Demon Monarch’s office.

[Mage Broadcast Forum]
[(Song Recommendation) This is the song of the demonic songstress I favor the most.]
I am the Demon Monarch.
I have uploaded the song of the demonic songstress I favor most to the music site.
I grant permission for it to be played on the broadcast, so consider it an honor and spread this song throughout the world.

[Comments]
-Cringe
ㄴ What does cringe mean?
ㄴLike a loser

-If you’re the Demon Monarch, I’m the Hero
ㄴ I am the true Demon Monarch.

“You insolent wretches!”

Bang! The Demon Monarch slammed her fist on her desk and screamed as if having a seizure.

The demonic steward managing the Demon Monarch’s castle seemed to have gotten used to the Demon Monarch’s antics. He didn’t tremble in fear and run away or hide.

He simply placed documents on the desk carefully and tried to leave.

But…

“Hey! Steward!”
“Y-Yes!”

Unfortunately, the steward’s plan to quietly slip away failed with the Demon Monarch’s call.

The steward bowed his head, dripping with sweat.

The Demon Monarch clicked her tongue and ordered the steward,

“Go and recommend my post right now.”
“Pardon?”

“Connect to the Network Magic, I said.”
“Ah, yes!”

The steward hurriedly connected to the Network Magic Tool and went to the Demon Monarch’s post.

Then, tilting his head, he cautiously said,

“Um, well, it says I’ve already recommended this post.”
“Hmm?”

“It seems you can only recommend a post once per Network Magic Tool.”

In other words, because the Demon Monarch had ‘self-recommended’ her own post, the steward couldn’t recommend it.

It was the so-called ‘Who stole my recommendation?’ phenomenon.

(Self-recommendations were called self-recommendations because they were truly pathetic.)

“Then bring another magic tool and recommend it! No, order all the demons who can access the magic tools to recommend the post!”
“A-As you wish!”

The steward rushed out of the office.

The Demon Monarch clicked her tongue several times in displeasure, fiddling with the magic tool, when…

Suddenly, she realized something.

“Hmm, wait, no. In other words, I can recommend it multiple times as long as the magic tools are different, right?”

A truly horrific and terrifying plan to recommend her own post multiple times by changing IPs.

A wicked idea befitting the title of Demon Monarch, master of all demons, an idea that an ordinary person with a sense of shame couldn’t even fathom.

“I can just suppress my demonic energy with magic… and the magic tool’s operating range is 10 meters, so as long as I can get within that distance, I can recommend it, right? Besides, they said there’s a place in the Human Empire where you can experience the magic tools.”

A concrete plan began to form in the Demon Monarch’s mind.

“I can find the locations of the magic tools by spreading spirits and familiars… and there are even humans who have written their personal information on this ‘forum’ thing, so I can find them if I want to.”

And so…

“I must go to the Human Realm!”

The Demon Monarch awakened to the world’s first ‘recommendation manipulation’.

At the same time the Demon Monarch was plotting her terrible and terrifying crime…

“The Great War…”

The Saint was searching for information about the Great War in the academy library.

It sounded crazy, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that the ‘unknown Archmage’, who introduced himself as Calvin, was the same person as the hero of the Great War.

Actually, it wasn’t so much a feeling as a premonition.

The Saint was the closest being to God.

Even though she hadn’t received any revelations, the divine wisdom that accompanied her sometimes gave her a strange sense of certainty.

And…

“I found it…!”

The Saint finally found information about ‘Hero Calvin.’

Much of the records of the Great War had been lost, but the academy library was a treasure trove of knowledge, housing books from all over the world.

An ancient tome about the Great War, so old it looked like it would crumble at any moment.

The Saint carefully opened it.

“Hero Calvin… an Archmage from Sanskrit…”

The great hero Calvin was a powerful Archmage.

It was said that he could use all magic without chanting and could fight on par with the Magic Tower alone. Several commanders’ accounts stated that humanity won the Great War thanks to Calvin.

A living embodiment of magic. An Archmage beyond Archmages.

And…

On the last page of the ancient book about Calvin…

There was a drawing depicting him.

“…As I thought, it’s him.”

The drawing depicted…

A man who looked exactly like the male student who slept in the academy—but a little older and more mature.

“Calvin-nim.”
“Yawn… Hmm? Oh, Rene.”

For some reason, the Saint had started seeking me out during lunch break ever since we ate together last time.

It made me a bit uncomfortable because it attracted the attention of the surrounding students. Perception Interference only lowered my presence, it didn’t distort people’s ability to recognize me.

When I was with someone with such a strong presence as the Saint, my own presence became stronger as well.

I answered a little curtly, and perhaps sensing that, Rene apologetically bowed her head.

“I’m sorry to bother you.”
“No, it’s not a bother… Relax. Just relax.”

“Hee hee. Thank you.”
“…”

Seeming to have gotten the response she wanted, the Saint smiled brightly at me.

Then, she extended her right hand and winked.

“Shall we go to the dining hall together today?”
“…I’m going to the dining hall, but I don’t want to be escorted.”

“Hee hee.”

I stood up without taking her hand.

The Saint looked down at her own hand, her eyes drooping slightly as if disappointed.

She was like a puppy eager for a walk.

“Don’t a lot of other students ask you to eat with them?”
“They’re all intimidated by me.”

“Ah, right. Because you’re the Saint.”

Because of my memories of my past life, I didn’t care about gods or demons, but the people of this world were different.

This was a world where holy power actually existed.

It was natural for them to fear divine wrath for acting irreverently.

“By the way, don’t you have any other attendants? For someone like the Saint, I’d expect the Church to send maids or knights to protect you.”
“The academy is safe. And relying on maids isn’t good if I want to remain pure and humble, so as not to disgrace God.”

“I see.”
“And… even if something dangerous happens, Calvin-nim will protect me, right?”

“…Me?”
“Hee hee.”

“Ah, right. Well, I’ll help if I can.”

But what good would it do her to be protected by me?

I was just an academy student. Of course, the reality was a bit different, but at least at the academy, I was just a sleepy student.

Relying on me wouldn’t be much help.

Perhaps because she was the Saint, she seemed to trust people easily.

“Thank you, Calvin-nim.”
“It’s nothing. We’re friends.”

“Friends… Hee hee.”

Jealousy and admiration often went hand in hand.

It was the same at the academy.

“That trash who’s always sleeping, dares to cling to the Saint?”

Most of the academy students admired the Saint.

And some students felt a sense of vicarious closeness to her. ‘Who am I? A student at the academy the Saint attends,’ they would boast, entrusting themselves to the Saint’s authority and believing they were worthy of her.

Louis, the second son of Count Narhen, was one such fan of the Saint.

Of course, the Saint didn’t know Louis’s name, or what the Narhen family was, or even of Louis Narhen’s existence. Even if she knew, she wouldn’t have cared.

But that wasn’t important.

What was important was that some trash, inferior to him, was receiving undue favor.

It was the so-called ‘I’m better than that guy, aren’t I?’ feeling.

In short, jealousy.

“Sigh, well. I guess even I have to ‘educate’ that lowly fellow… Once I give him a good beating, he’ll understand his place. Keh heh.”

And…

Louis was petty enough to take out his jealousy on others.

He intended to teach the parasite clinging to the Saint a lesson.

He planned to drag him to a back alley and beat him up. That should be enough for him to understand his place.

So…

After classes ended, he tried to secretly follow the ‘lowly fellow’, but…

“Sigh. So there are people in this world who commit such unpleasant acts.”
“…Saint?”

For some reason, the Saint had overheard his plan.

“But, you’re right. Calvin-nim said that students are immature and make mistakes. So, confess your sin. God will forgive you.”
“I-It’s a misunderstanding. I was only trying to protect you from that trash…”

He didn’t know how she’d found out, but Louis could only offer excuses while sweating profusely.

No, they weren’t even excuses. To Louis, it was all true. Calvin was trash, and he was acting to protect the Saint…

Yes, it was all that trash’s fault.

“…You’re not repentant until the very end.”
“You’ve been deceived by that trash—!”

“Sigh… Knight. If you please.”

The moment the Saint looked down at Louis with cold eyes…

A knight in shining white armor appeared out of nowhere. An elite knight of the Relief Knights, dispatched from the Holy Nation solely to protect the Saint.

He grabbed Louis by the shoulder.

Louis struggled to break free, but a mere academy student couldn’t possibly escape the grip of an elite knight protecting the Saint.

“You said ‘educate,’ right? Knight, please ‘educate’ this gentleman. Make him a true believer, befitting God’s will. Ah, and keep this a secret from the Archbishop.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”

The elite knight of the Relief Knights, who only followed the Saint’s orders, nodded.

One of the Relief Knights’ main duties was eliminating heretics. Their second duty was torturing heretics.

‘Educating’ foolish heretics into true believers was the knight’s specialty.

“Honestly, who needs to learn their place…”

The Saint sighed as she watched Louis being dragged away by the knight.

And…

[“Hello, everyone. The mage is here!”]

“Ah, you started a bit early today. Hee hee.”

With that familiar voice echoing in her ears…

The existence of the man named Louis completely vanished from the Saint’s memory.