The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 201

Dmitri’s reception room was grand, but cold. The walls were made of grey stone, and the only light came from a few narrow windows high up. As I walked in, I stopped. Edwin Hector was there. He was sitting in a chair, drinking tea as if he were completely relaxed. I was surprised to see him. My hand almost went to my sword. Edwin Hector. Seeing him again brought back bad memories of war and loss.

Hector looked up and greeted me calmly. “It’s been a while, Roman.”

I kept my voice sharp. “What do you want?”

Hector smiled slightly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You seem in a hurry. Please, sit down first. Let’s talk properly.”

It was unexpected.

The last memory Roman Dmitri had of Edwin Hector was not pleasant.

Edwin Hector remembered watching his kingdom fall. He felt like crying when he saw his soldiers die.

Their relationship could certainly be described as a bad one.

Even though they should think about their countries, they were not friends. They were not comfortable talking politely.

I took a seat.

Edwin Hector, perhaps to ease the tension, lightly tossed out a topic of conversation.

“First of all, congratulations on the founding of the Dmitri Duchy. I knew Roman Dmitri was a remarkable individual, but I never imagined you would quell the Cairo rebellion in one fell swoop and even defeat the Chronos Empire. Many in Hector were astonished by Roman Dmitri’s actions. Everyone is furious about the Empire’s atrocities, but no one takes action like you, Roman Dmitri.”

“Let’s be honest. We’re not friends. No need for nice words, right?”

“…You are right. To be honest, I thought we’d only meet on a battlefield.”

The atmosphere turned cold. The friendly words were gone, and a heavy silence filled the room. Neither of us looked at each other directly.

That day.

Edwin Hector still couldn’t forget it.

He was forcing a smile for a specific purpose now, but on the battlefield, Roman Dmitri had been nothing short of an overwhelming terror.

Back then, when he crossed the border for the sake of his country.

Hector’s soldiers were unilaterally slaughtered, and the defeated remnants had no choice but to endure a truly cold and difficult winter.

And.

Butler, who had suffered severe internal injuries, needed a full year of rehabilitation to even hold a sword again. Hector’s voice became softer. ‘Butler… he needed a year to even hold a sword again.’ His eyes showed pain.

His heart burned fiercely.

Hearing news of Butler despairing and frustrated every night, Edwin Hector, dwelling in the Sky Castle, was consumed by guilt that his choices had been wrong.

Hector was declining.

If he hadn’t incited the war, they might have struggled, but they wouldn’t have experienced the pain of defeat.

He took a breath.

Past grievances.

Having experienced Roman Dmitri on the battlefield, he was even more convinced that he needed to meet him.

Edwin Hector said.

“To put it bluntly, the war between Cairo and Hector had a mastermind behind it, inciting the conflict.”

Roman Dmitri’s expression didn’t change much.

Seeing him calmly accept the shocking news, Edwin Hector spoke the words he had organized in his mind.

“As Roman Dmitri knows, the Hector Kingdom decided on war due to continuous crop failures every year. I’m not making excuses for that. We attacked Cairo to survive, and that is undeniable. However, immediately after the war ended, we confirmed circumstances suggesting that the crop failures might have been artificially created.”

The timing was coincidental.

Villages that had initially shown no abnormalities began to display strange signs as if there was no longer a need to hide them after the war.

“It started with one village in Hector. It was a village where crop failures were progressing strangely, and immediately after the war, reports came in that the land had become dry, crumbly, and black, and that an excessive number of animal carcasses were being found nearby. And that was just the beginning. With strange signs suddenly spreading throughout Hector, we realized that there was another reason for the crop failures that had been plaguing Hector. It was clearly a necromancer’s curse. Those who had slowly ruined the land for a long time now showed the curse. They didn’t need to hide it anymore because they got what they wanted.”

Maintaining a curse required considerable effort.

The circumstances were evident.

Hector had thought that the gods had abandoned the country due to the continuous crop failures, but in fact, there was another reason.

When suspicion turned into certainty.

Edwin Hector couldn’t contain his boiling anger.

The war with Cairo.

How many people had died?

Those who had gone to the battlefield to feed Hector had met a monster named Roman Dmitri and achieved nothing.

He didn’t want to place the blame on the other party.

Being foolishly caught in the mastermind’s plan and losing the war was due to the incompetence of the leaders governing Hector.

However.

It was necessary to find out the truth.

Having joined the Magic Tower through a deal with the Sky Castle, he had spent the past year in a truly fierce struggle.

“Which faction benefited the most from the war between Cairo and Hector? To put it simply, it can be asserted that the Chronos Empire did. Since they intended to use Cairo as a bridgehead for conquering the continent, they would benefit regardless of whether Cairo or Hector won, so we started the investigation focusing on them. At first, I didn’t want to believe it. Although the Empire’s ambition had reached its peak, black magic was an area that humanity should not touch.”

Exactly one year.

Recently, he discovered a fact.

And that fact led Edwin Hector to Dmitri.

“Ten years ago, we discovered that the Chronos Empire had experienced the same phenomenon as Hector. It was an intentionally created crop failure, but instead of actively trying to resolve it, the Chronos Empire was actually hiding the truth. And when we found a clue about a person related to it, we learned that their crop failure was the result of an ‘experiment’.”

It wasn’t perfect evidence.

The person who knew about the crop failure was just a messenger, and there was no power to use as evidence.

But.

Edwin Hector was certain.

Edwin Hector sat across from Roman Dimitri, his face serious. He took a deep breath and spoke. “It’s just as we feared,” Edwin said, his voice low. “The one behind all of this… it’s the Chronos Empire.”

The Chronos Empire wanted to start a war between the two kingdoms to easily take them over. It was a simple plan: divide and conquer. By making other countries fight each other, the Chronos Empire could trap Cairo without much effort. The war in the south was a direct benefit to Chronos. The Hector Kingdom had tried to get the Chronos Empire to help with their problems, but no matter what happened, Cairo had to focus on the south instead of the west for a while.

Cairo was starting to feel trapped. Just like Hector was suffering from the crop failure, Cairo was slowly getting weaker from problems both inside and outside the country.

Edwin Hector said,

“People are only focused on the bad things the Chronos Empire is doing right in front of them. They talk openly about taking over the continent, so people think they are safe as long as the Empire doesn’t invade them directly. But that’s not true. The Chronos Empire is cleverly destroying anyone who stands in their way, one by one. Cairo is their main target. Unlike the kingdom alliance, where four kingdoms work together, the Empire wants to use Cairo, which is easier to defeat, as a starting point for a larger war. If they destroy Cairo and Hector and take control of the northern part of the continent, they will split the continent in half and start a full-scale takeover.”

“If that’s true, why didn’t you tell everyone and come to me?” Roman asked. “Dark magic is a sensitive topic, so even the Chronos Empire couldn’t completely avoid blame.”

“I agree,” Edwin replied. “But that alone won’t bring down the Empire. In fact, it might even start a larger war across the continent. The Chronos Empire is hiding their ambition because the Valhalla Empire exists, but a war could break out at any time. And right now, even with the power of the kingdom alliance, not including the Empire, I’m not sure we can stop the Empire’s ambition.”

The evidence was weak. Chronos could simply deny everything, and Edwin knew that claims without power to support them were useless.

That’s why Edwin Hector came to Roman Dimitri first.

“We started off on the wrong foot,” Edwin admitted. “It’s all Hector’s fault, and I’ll take responsibility for it. But to stop Chronos’ ambition, Dimitri and Hector need to work together.”

This was his real goal: an alliance. He wanted Roman Dimitri’s power.

“For years, Hector’s people have been starving,” Edwin continued. “Every time I think about how the Chronos Empire caused their suffering, I feel like I can’t live in the same world as them. My heart is burning with anger. I feel like I’m going crazy. This isn’t just a problem for Hector. So, please join my plan to destroy the Chronos Empire.”

It was mostly a one-sided conversation. Edwin Hector was letting out all his frustration, and his words were quite convincing.

But something felt strange. Even after hearing everything, Roman Dimitri’s face remained calm.

The atmosphere was odd. Roman Dimitri took a sip of tea, put down the cup, and looked at Edwin Hector.

“I knew it,” Roman said.

“What do you mean?” Edwin asked, confused.

“After the battle in the south, I sent my people across the continent,” Roman explained. “The war between Hector and Cairo was something no one wanted, and I thought it might have been planned. Just like you said, Edwin Hector, the Chronos Empire was clearly benefiting from the bloodshed between the two countries.”

Hao Mun, the people from the information guild, had spread out across the continent. They gathered information, and by putting it all together, they found clues about dark magic.

The crop failure in Hector seemed suspicious.

As Edwin Hector investigated, he couldn’t find clear proof that the Chronos Empire was responsible, but he could at least guess that someone was plotting something.

Actually, it wasn’t that surprising. Edwin Hector seemed angry that people would use dark magic, but Roman Dimitri knew that in the world of fighting and magic, people often did even worse things.

Corpses turned into zombies. Monsters that drained people’s energy. Many people gave up their humanity to achieve their goals.

Roman Dimitri said,

“We are already getting ready for war with Chronos. They will definitely try to take over the continent, and they will do anything to destroy Dimitri, just like they did to the Hector Kingdom. But even if that’s true, why should Dimitri join *your* plan?”

“Are you saying you’ll reject my offer?” Edwin asked.

“Let’s be clear,” Roman replied. “I’m asking if Hector is even in a position to make such an offer.”

His eyes changed, showing the fierce look he had on the battlefield. Roman Dimitri glared at Edwin Hector as if he wanted to devour him.

“The Hector Kingdom was trapped by Chronos’ plan,” Roman said. “And even though you attacked the Cairo Kingdom by surprise, you didn’t achieve anything. That shows Hector’s weakness. The long crop failure has weakened Hector from the inside. People who haven’t had enough to eat will lose their strength as soldiers. And that’s not all.”

It was a harsh truth, and Roman Dimitri was exposing the things Edwin was trying to ignore.

“The crop failure ended after the war with Cairo, but it takes time for the land to recover. The Hector Kingdom still has problems, and the people are complaining of hunger. I heard that Prince Edwin Hector received a lot of support when he entered the Heavenly Sphere. But has that completely solved Hector’s problems? If a war breaks out now, is Hector ready with enough supplies and equipment for his soldiers? Prince, I know you’re sincere. Your care for your people and your burning desire for revenge make you want to destroy the Chronos Empire at any cost. But…”

This meeting, which was supposed to go smoothly, was going wrong from the start, just like the relationship between the two men.

“Tell me why Dimitri should join forces with you, besides the obvious reasons I already know.”