Chapter 41: The King’s Confession and the Demon Spirit’s Shadow

“What? That man actually admitted it?!”

Ellis and Larry, having left the palace, returned to Peter’s home, where they found Peter looking grim and troubled. He then recounted everything that had transpired.

“Indeed,” Peter said with a bitter smile. “He truly lives up to his name, King Gapp. He answered the question head-on.”

Ellis frowned, asking, “What exactly did he say?”

Peter then recalled the scene to Ellis and Larry.

“My esteemed ministers, I presume you are all quite surprised to hear my words. After all, you’ve always known me as a strong and domineering ruler, one who would never willingly sign such a pact.”

“The old me, the one who had not yet become the King of Danga, would have maintained my unyielding stance on this matter. I would have preferred to shed my blood on the battlefield, to fall with honor, rather than endure the humiliation of selling our land to survive.”

“But I cannot do that now. I can no longer indulge my own willfulness. The burden I carry is not merely my personal honor, but the very destiny of the Danga Kingdom. All of you present are talented and patriotic individuals of Danga, formulating policies and maintaining the entire nation’s operations. Surely, then, you must be acutely aware of Danga’s current predicament.”

“Internal strife and external threats—these four words perfectly encapsulate our situation. In recent years, Danga has been repeatedly ravaged by natural disasters. Though, with the help of the late king and all of you, my ministers, we have finally begun to recover, the nation is now utterly impoverished. Even maintaining basic military provisions has become a struggle. Meanwhile, our enemy, Jipp, is a powerful and highly aggressive nation. If we were to confront Jipp now, fueled solely by hot-blooded courage and sacrificing our lives, we might die gloriously, but we would ultimately achieve nothing more than the destruction of our nation and homes.”

“Individual life and death are trivial; the survival of the nation is paramount. My actions since ascending the throne are plain for all to see. I immediately began working to restore our military, but a nation’s military strength cannot be rebuilt overnight. At least for now, we lack the qualifications to confront Jipp. Doing so would only deplete our remaining vital forces. To save the people and lose the land means both people and land will be saved. To save the land and lose the people means both people and land will be lost.”

“We must protect our homeland, but first, we need to accumulate our strength. And to accumulate our strength, we must buy more time! This contract, my friends, is that time!”

King Gapp spoke with resounding conviction. “Ten years. Let this land temporarily belong to Jipp for ten years. In ten years, I will personally lead our troops to reclaim it. I swear it by blood: if I fail to fulfill this promise, I am willing to be led to the execution ground and suffer a thousand cuts. All ministers and officials of the royal palace shall bear witness.”

Having declared this, King Gapp drew a dagger from his robes, sliced open his palm, and let the flowing blood drip into a wine cup. He then drank it down in one gulp, crying out, “Long Live Danga!”

The assembled ministers and palace officials, deeply moved by his soaring spirit and passion, raised their own wine cups and shouted in unison, “Long Live Danga!”

Larry exclaimed, “Incredible! Truly incredible! With that single stroke, he utterly captivated the entire upper class. And such a stirring speech—if he truly improvised it on the spot, then he is indeed a leader of immense personal charisma.”

Peter also sighed, “Yes, he is.”

‘A hero to them, a formidable enemy to us.’

In contrast to Peter and Larry’s effusive praise, Ellis’s expression was far more solemn.

“We discovered members of the Demon Spirit Race within the palace. If nothing unexpected happened, then King Gapp must be colluding with them.”

Peter asked with a hint of confusion, “The Demon Spirit Race? What are they?”

“An extremely dangerous species, one that should be eliminated immediately upon sight. After a century of hunting by the Adventurers’ Guild, this race should no longer exist within the Mazesli Continent. But it seems they’ve only disappeared from the surface; these creatures are still multiplying in the shadows.”

Ellis then proceeded to explain the distinct characteristics of the Demon Spirit Race to Peter.

Peter’s face turned ashen as he asked, “So, Daisy’s murder of the late king was controlled by them, and they are now cooperating with King Gapp?”

“It appears that way for now.”

“Could there be some misunderstanding? What if King Gapp is also being controlled?”

“The possibility of him being controlled is low,” Larry said, shaking his head. “According to our records, individuals controlled by the Demon Spirit Race suffer from mental confusion. The fact that King Gapp could deliver such a speech proves he is of sound mind.”

“What do he and the Demon Spirit Race hope to achieve by cooperating?!”

Ellis shook her head. “It’s unclear. However, for the Demon Spirit Race, there are only two reasons to cooperate with others: finding new habitats or reproduction. They might hide in Danga for a while, but they would never truly settle here. That leaves only reproduction as the reason for their cooperation.”

“No, I must inform the other dukes about this.”

Peter had just started to rise when Ellis pressed him back down.

“Don’t rush. The Demon Spirit Race is not something you can handle. The important thing now isn’t King Gapp. If the Demon Spirit Race escapes, they could infect a large number of people in a very short time.”

Peter, feeling helpless, asked, “Then what should we do?”

Larry replied, “We must find the leader of the Demon Spirit Race. Although they can produce a large number of parasites quickly, these parasites all originate from a single Demon Spirit, who is their leader. Only when the leader dies will all the parasites perish. Usually, the leader is difficult to find, but now, we might be able to follow King Gapp’s trail to them.”

Ellis took a deep breath. “It seems we must continue to pressure King Gapp, to understand exactly what they are plotting.”

“I still have some informants in the palace. Should I…?”

Ellis shook her head. “No, do not let those informants monitor Gapp. They wouldn’t be able to detect the Demon Spirit Race’s presence. The Demon Spirit Race excels at concealment and mind control; doing so would only lead to them being discovered and putting themselves in danger.”

Peter asked again, “Are you saying you’ll go yourselves?”

Larry and Ellis exchanged glances, recalling their ‘infiltration’ of the palace. They said awkwardly, “Neither of us is particularly skilled at surveillance. But it doesn’t matter. Close-range surveillance, while direct, requires too high a level of technical skill and doesn’t suit our expertise. We can devise other methods, perhaps by deducing from the broader situation.”

Larry nodded quickly. “Since King Gapp isn’t controlled, he must be in a mutually beneficial partnership with the Demon Spirit Race, and their ambitions are certainly not small. Therefore, by analyzing their recent decisions, we can roughly understand their intentions. We’ll have Daisy further intensify the public outcry, perhaps even raise an army. At that point, they will surely be forced to act. Once they act, they will inevitably reveal their weaknesses, and that’s when we might find the Demon Spirit Race leader.”

Ellis added as a final point, “As soon as the Demon Spirit Race leader appears, the two of us will immediately swarm them and take them down.”

“Perfect!”

“As expected of my partner!”

Ellis and Larry high-fived in celebration, as if the Demon Spirit Race leader had already been decapitated by them.

Peter asked once more, “Will it go smoothly?”

Ellis put her hands on her hips, optimistically stating, “Until it goes wrong, we’ll assume it *will* go smoothly! Otherwise, life would be nothing but constant anxiety, and how miserable would that be?”