Chapter 156 – Start of the War (5)

“You kingdom is truly in a mess.”

“The coffers are empty.  Still, this is a nation that boasts a lengthy history.”

As the young king of a nation, Silpennon was truly miserable.  He was successful in regaining his country, yet there was nothing left within his country.

Mycenae possessed a Class called Great Merchant.  This was why she had an uncanny sense for managing assets.  She was helping Silpennon examine the assets of the palace and the capital.  As Mycenae progressed in her task, Silpennon was becoming more and more depressed.

“It’ll be alright, your majesty.”

For some reason, Leseti was the only one that was brimming with confidence.  When Silpennon nodded his assent for her to speak, she retracted her shoulder with pride, and she shouted out her words.

“We just have to execute the nobles, who stole from the kingdom’s coffers!  We just have to find those that had suddenly increased in their wealth. We’ll fill back our coffers by confiscating their wealth!  We just have to put the suspicious nobles on trial.  We can label them as being traitors.”

“I see.  Is that how a kingdom is maintained?”

“I no longer like this kingdom!”

In his next life, he wanted to be born as the crown prince of an empire!  Sipennon despaired as he obediently moved according to Leseti’s advice.

The stomach of the nobles were filled with fat.  They were supposed to stand up against the Demon race to protect the kingdom, yet they weren’t bringing anything to the table!  Silpennon would rather feed the soldiers and make weapons with their money.  It would be million times better!

“You can’t do that, your majesty!  Even if it is you, you cannot treat my family like this!  Our family helped build this nation!”

“Build?  The kingdom is about to go under right now, yet you are talking about your family helping build this nation in the past?  Shut up.  If you don’t want to die, cough up all your money, you son of a bitch.”

“Y…you are a ruler of a nation.  How can you say such uncouth wor….kuh-uhk!”

A noble was sent flying when Silpennon kicked him.  The noble fell to the floor after hitting the wall.   The royal palace was filled with nobles right now, and they were struck dumb by what had happened.  Afterwards, Silpennon moved amongst them, and he started kicking the rest of the nobles.

“Hoo.  How can humans be so foolish?  How can they keep repeating their mistakes….?”

“Kahk!  T…the king is beating up the nobles!”

“Hey, you there.  Close the door.”

Silpennon had gathered all the nobles of his nation, and he beat them to a pulp.  It didn’t matter if their families helped found this nation.  Past meritorious deeds were useless to him.  Silpennon started beating up a group of nobles with long white beards.  Soon, the nobles realized what was truly important to them.

“W…we will give it to you!”

“You should have said that from the start.  We just made each other tired.”

“Hoo-hoohk, koo-hoo-hoo······.”

There might have been innocent nobles amongst them.  However, Silpennon didn’t care.  What about maintaining the dignity and grace of his nation?  He didn’t care about that either.

He could clearly define his moral obligations at a later date.  Even if the later generations labeled him a tyrant, Silpennon didn’t care.  There was only one thing that was important to him.  Silpennon’s brutal action had weakened the power of the nobles, and his kingdom’s coffers had been replenished.  The only thing important right now was to consolidate his power and authority!

“I”ve wasted too much time.  The alliance is already fighting against the Demon race!  How long do you think the Demon race would stick to fighting the large army of the alliance?  We are facing the ocean, which connects to the entire world.  Of course, the Demons know this!  If you have energy to move, everyone should pick up a sword and rise!  We have to fight for the fate of humanity!”

Silpennon created the Demon Opposing force, and he gathered all the soldiers possessed by the nobles of Diaz.  These were soldiers stationed in their lands since the nobles could guess at the invasion route of the Demons.  When he added the Dwarves to his army, he had over 150 thousand soldiers under his command.

“We will be joining the continental alliance.”

“B..but why do we have to go fight outside of our own country….”

“It is better to fight and defeat our enemies on foreign land.  It is preferable than fighting the war on our land.”

Currently, the Demon realm and the human realm were fighting at the border between the two realms.  As the war dragged on, the human realm would inevitably show cracks. The Demons would infiltrate into the human realm through various routes.  Silpennon’s goal was to stop that from happening.

The alliance had purposefully let the Demons take over the small countries located at the west of the continent.  The alliance created a defensive line as they surrounded these fallen small nations. They created a blockade that prevented the Demon King’s army from heading into the ocean.  The alliance was preventing the battlefield from expanding.

“It is time for the Dwarves to shine!”

“Let’s go, king of Diaz!  We have defeated Demonic beings for the past several hundred years!  We will show you the power of the Dwarves!”

Silpennon traveled atop the ocean with the extremely wild Dwarven bros.  It didn’t matter if it was a merchant ship or a military vessel.  He (forcefully) loaded soldiers onto all the boats possessed by Diaz.

“I wonder if this really is the smart thing to do.”

“Are you worried about traveling on the ocean?”

At Aria’s carefully worded question, Silpennon didn’t hesitate to shake his head from side to side.

“That doesn’t worry me too much, but….  I wonder if my country will be safe.  We are taking so many people, and I wonder how many of them will be able to make it back….  These are the thoughts I am having.”

“I see.  However, that’s because our opponent is the Demon King’s army……”

The Demon King’s army was being penned in, but Silpennon worried that a portion of the Demon King’s army might break off and invade Diaz through the ocean.  Since Aria couldn’t say for sure that everything will turn out all right, she didn’t know what to say.

At that moment, Deyus suddenly tilted his head as he spoke.

“I feel an enormous presence in the ocean.”

“Then why aren’t we getting ready to fight?!”

“No….  These beings aren’t hiding themselves, and their energy are too ordered to be Demons.”

“Do you want to get hit in the back off your head?  You can’t judge a book by its cover!  You should have realized this….  Mmmm?”

Silpennon was frustrated, so he decided he would unwind himself by cussing out Deyus.  However, in a moment, Silpennon also titled his head in puzzlement like Deyus.

“They aren’t humans or Demons….?”

“What did I tell you?”

“Shut up, Deyus.”

Silpennon readied the soldiers just in case, and he headed towards the side of the ship.  When he did so, he realized who was the owner of this particular form of Mana.

The upper body of a human arose from beneath the undulating water.  She was a mermaid, who possessed the lower body of a fish.

“Mermaid······!?”

[Can you hear my words, ruler of humans?]

It seemed the mermaid was capable of using Telepathic magic!  When Silpennon nodded his head, other merfolk swam up to surround the boats containing the army of Diaz.  An unusually beautiful and strong mermaid raised her head, and she once again sent a telepathic message to him.

[We’ve been ordered by the Queen of the ocean Sherryl Anaid.  We will protect the sea routes travelled by humans.  While you are with us, you don’t need to fear bad weather, reefs or Demons.]

“S…Sherryl Anaid······?”

[That is correct.  Sherryl Anaid-nim follows the human hero Artpe-nim.  She received the will of Artpe-nim.  The merfolk will cooperate with humans in defeating the Demon race, so please do not be afraid.  Follow us.  We will lead you to the battleground where the humans and the Demons are fighting.]

“······.”

Silpennon had never expected Artpe to have seduced a mermaid.  When Artpe’s name popped out of the mermaid’s mouth, Silpennon felt a headache.

Wait a moment.  She was the queen of the ocean?  It basically meant that she owned the entire ocean!

[Human, are you alright?]

“I…it is nothing.  I’m fine.  Thank you for the escort.  We will accept your kindness.  As the king of the human kingdom of Diaz, I want to extend my deepest thanks to your queen.”

[The queen will be pleased when she hears a human had observed proper etiquette.  I will leave you now.]

The mermaid ended the conversation, and she dived back into the ocean.  However, the numerous merfolk remained behind as they protected the fleet.  By this time, it seemed the soldiers and the sailors had an idea as to what was going on.

“Are the merfolk giving us a blessing?”

“S…somehow, I feel my courage rising. Yes······ We’ll be able to repel them!  I’m sure of it!”

“It seems the history of humanity won’t end anytime soon.  It will not end if your majesty leads us!”

Silpennon hadn’t said anything, yet the soldiers were happy.  He didn’t have to go out of his way to say anything.

He was just tired.  It seemed Artpe’s moves were beyond his imagination, so he was flabbergasted

“While I was re-acquiring my nation, he took over the fucking ocean….  He is something more impressive than a hero.  I feel sorry for the Demon King’s army, who has to go against Artpe.”

Silpennon didn’t know that he had stuck a dagger in Artpe’s stomach in their past lives.  This was the only reason why he was able to say such words.

“It is really romantic.  It is a love between a human and a mermaid queen.”

“If Maetel wasn’t by his side, it would have been romantic.”

By now, he understood how Artpe’s party functioned.  Artpe received love from many women.  He was envious, yet he felt sorry for Artpe at the same time.  It was proof that Silpennon had matured a little bit.  He let out a bitter laughter as he shook his head from side to side.

They were far out in the ocean.  The continent looked like a small speck.

They were getting closer to the battleground between the Demons and humans.

On the other hand, Artpe’s conquest of Demon world’s ocean was progressing without a hitch.

“Charge! They are all weakened from their wounds.  They are no longer worthy foes!”

“Those that are lagging behind in levels will move to the front line!  If you want to continue being dead weights around the queen’s ankles, remain where you are!”

“Ooh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Artpe’s party accompanied the army of Genesis mermaids, and they became noticeably stronger as they moved deeper into the Demon world.

The ocean of the Demon world was large, and it was overflowing with aquatic monsters.  It was so crowded that Demons didn’t bother traveling deep into the ocean.  It would be too much work.

Despite this fact, the army of Genesis Mermaids and Artpe’s party was moving deep within the ocean.  They were trying to avoid detection from the Demons, and they were moving by killing everything in their path.  Several large battles were being conducted each day.  In the process, most of the Merfolk increased their level every two days!

Normally, they couldn’t get stronger when suffering injuries and casualties.  They couldn’t just power ahead.  However, they had two priestesses with outstanding abilities named Sienna and Vadinet supporting them.  They could immediately heal gravely injured merfolk, so there were no casualties.  It had been 3 months since they had entered into the ocean of the Demon world, and they had maintained the number of 200 thousand merfolk.

“My army is growing stronger at a rapid pace.  It is all thanks to master’s patronage!”

“Mmm.  Yes.  It is good that they are growing rapidly.”

Sherryl looked genuinely happy, so he laughed as he replied to her.  However, he was sweating inside.

The Genesis Mermaids were a truly terrifying race.  If Sherryl was able to survive and grow stronger, the merfolk centralized around her would probably be able to take down the Demon King eventually.  Of course, this would only happen if the Demon King chose to come within the ocean!

“What are their average level now?”

“They are around level 230.”

They were stronger than the elite forces of the Demon King’s army!

“It is all thanks to the presence of Sienna-nim and Vadinet-nim.  Originally, we estimated that we would have lost half our numbers by this point….”

“I guess it is to be expected.  Mermaids are pretty poor at the healing arts.”

To be precise, it would be more apt to say that the Genesis Mermaids hadn’t unlocked that particular ability yet. The Genesis Mermaids were an Ancient race, and the current iteration had been born recently through Artpe’s hands.

The Mermaid Queen Sherryl possessed both physical and mental abilities.  Of course, she also possessed healing abilities, so Artpe guessed that there was a high probability that the healing ability was dormant within the other Genesis Mermaids.  Still, no other Genesis Mermaids had displayed this ability yet.

“However, I definitely feel that it is possible.  Once we evolve, I believe those that can heal will appear amongst our race.”

“Ah.  Mmm.  Yes.”

For a brief moment, Artp thought about what would happen after they defeat the Demon King.  What would happen if the Genesis Mermaids decided to conquer the dry land…..   It was annoying to think such thoughts, so he stopped thinking about it.

[Nyaa-ah nyaa-ah.]

“Yes.  It is getting worse.”

Roa suddenly let out a cry. The Evil Heart gripped in her mouth had started to faintly vibrate when they entered the Demon world.  As they traveled deeper into the Demon world, the vibration was getting stronger.

“We’ll be at Nirotacid soon.”

The hero from his past life didn’t travel to Nirotacid.  What was hidden there? Was it just a simple trap set by the Demon race?  Or maybe it was some enormous Record?  Artpe’s eyes narrowed.

“We’ll find out once we get there.”

[Nyaa nyaa-ah.]

Four days passed.  The party didn’t suddenly run into a Four Heavenly King.  They were able to reach Nirotacid without much problem.