CHAPTER 59…………..
. Hero of Beled (4)
The demon princess had greeted him first—something Laocon hadn’t expected.
For a few seconds, he stayed silent.
But soon, he showed a faintly delighted smile.
“To hear such words from Princess Erebos… I will treasure them more dearly than any jewel our merchant guild possesses.”
“Hehe, thank you!”
Goodness, what a polite and charming child he was.
At that moment, Ares muttered just loudly enough for only me to hear.
“What’s with all that dying-of-gratitude talk…”
“Ares, quiet.”
“Urgh!”
Before I knew it, I jabbed him hard in the solar plexus.
Kallion turning his head away with a stifled chuckle was just a bonus.
“Um, excuse me.”
Then, a soft voice I had forgotten while exchanging greetings came out hesitantly.
Theia, her face red, was stealing glances at Laocon.
She looked as if she was fighting fiercely against her own inner conflict.
But despite stammering, she managed to speak.
“About that day… what I said was… w-wrong. I shouldn’t have spoken badly of humans…”
“Uh…”
“…Thank you for saving my brother.”
Laocon’s expression was blank, unlike earlier.
But I thought—perhaps it was the look of someone truly caught off guard.
As I suspected, a gentle smile bloomed on the boy’s face.
“Think nothing of it, Lady Nestor. I’m glad to hear your younger brother is safe as well.”
“…Mm.”
“Next time, we’ll meet under easier circumstances. If you ever need Iliod’s crafts, I’ll be sure to pay a visit.”
“O-okay. If you bring good goods, that is.”
Ending on a slightly haughty note—very much like a noble lady.
Still, I thought she’d been pressed enough for today.
‘Time to let them go back.’
But before everyone departed, I stopped Laocon for a last word.
“Oh, and—I’ll make sure to use the gifts you brought me well.”
“Those trinkets are hardly worth mentioning, Princess.”
What do you mean “hardly”? They’re enchanted ornaments made by mages.
Of course, compared to one’s life, even a castle is meaningless—but still, if several chests of them arrive, you should be thankful, right?
My troubled face must have amused him, because Laocon smiled faintly.
“We are merchants who do chase after coin, true. But…”
Just then, a strange ripple flickered in the boy’s green eyes as he looked at me.
“…For a life, we always pay with life.”
Near the Beled district, the Iliod merchant guild had lodgings.
Those who had just paid respects to the Demon King’s family returned there after nightfall.
The guildmaster quietly asked his son, who had been unusually reserved all day.
“So? Did that noble girl apologize to you?”
“Ah… yes.”
“Tsk. To think a young princess had to drag around such a spoiled brat.”
“But it ended well, didn’t it? This means we might deal with the high nobility of the demons now.”
“They may be one of the Four Great Houses here, but there’s no need to bow and scrape for such treatment.”
“Haha. Truly, I’m fine now.”
Laocon chuckled, remembering the teary-eyed noble girl.
She had been the one to insult him, yet seeing her so distressed made it hard for him to stay angry.
“And what about on Mother’s side?”
“I informed the Demon King.”
“You mean about the mercenary band that purchased that time-bomb weapon?”
The guildmaster nodded at Laocon’s question.
No one knows human cunning better than another human.
What helps people, what harms them—only humans truly understand.
From the traces left on the building where the noble girls and the heirs of the merchant guild had been, the southern guildmasters immediately guessed.
‘This must be the work of mercenaries from the north.’
So the guildmasters shared the information they had.
The most recent rumor said the buyer of those weapons was…
“A female-led mercenary group, the Echidna Band. I hinted that it was probably them.”
“As expected…”
“Since we spoke up right after the incident, the demons will move quickly.”
But what if the demons hadn’t?
What if they had prioritized their own noble children and abandoned the heirs of Iliod’s guild?
The guilds would have immediately returned to their homelands.
And reported only to their kings about who had bought those weapons.
In that case, the demons might have discovered the culprit far too late—
‘Or perhaps never at all.’
Laocon smiled faintly.
‘If that little Princess Erebos hadn’t intervened, it would’ve come to that.’
That was why he had said it to her.
A life is repaid with life.
And then…
“Laocon. With your ‘eyes,’ did you see if that princess truly had value?”
“Haha. Yes, Mother.”
Laocon let out a confident laugh.
His green eyes—reason he had been named heir—gleamed.
Laocon’s eyes had the ability to “see value.”
Normally, he used them to appraise goods or raw materials.
But sometimes, this ability applied to people as well.
“That princess… is truly special. In every way.”
She was not simply an adorable-looking child.
She had the maturity to openly thank humans of another nation.
The power to save Laocon’s companions.
‘And seeing her directly, I felt she carried a unique charisma.’
The demon princess gave the sense that a giant dwelled inside her small frame.
Could it simply be because she bore the future Demon King’s magic?
Laocon would wager one of his eyes it was not.
The guildmaster fell into thought as she looked at her son.
The Creusa Guild stood at a crossroads.
‘Since the war, the demons haven’t been as friendly toward human kingdoms as before.’
But for Creusa, which had to sell to other kingdoms via Tartarus, that was a heavy blow.
Should they instead go through the western Halcyon Theocracy, even though it lay in ruins?
That option had been a real possibility until the last moment…
“Very well, Laocon. Let’s try doing business here in Beled.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Laocon nodded.
“I look forward to seeing what that princess will accomplish someday.”
And so, they decided to bet on the land where Princess Elysion would one day reign.
Late at night, in Aiolos, capital of the Halcyon Theocracy.
The world was cloaked in darkness, but faint light still leaked from the central temple.
Deep inside, the Second Priest Talos was using a voice-incantation.
—…Unfortunately, this affair had less impact than expected. Because of that little princess.
Andvari let out a laugh tinged with annoyance.
Even Talos, listening, felt fury rising within him.
‘We need another pretext to invade Kore again.’
The soul of the 13th Great Saintess was undoubtedly there.
But for a human of the Theocracy to reach Tartarus was nearly impossible.
Thus, they needed some other conflict to erupt.
For example, a war between humans and demons.
‘If that happens, Halcyon will have reason to intervene as well.’
But now, thanks to that infuriating demon princess, things had been spoiled.
‘That damned horned girl…!’
Why rescue humans instead of her own kind?
And not just any humans, but the wealthy southern merchants!
Talos clenched his teeth, barely restraining his rage.
Meanwhile, Andvari continued in a sharp tone.
—In any case, I’ll be laying low for a while. For some reason, the Demon King himself has ordered a search for our mercenary band.
“…Haa. Understood.”
Andvari and the Echidna Mercenary Band were their only tether within Kore.
Now, they would be unusable for some time.
‘Damn that demon princess. Damn that Demon King!’
His anger burned hotter.
After the spell was cut, Talos glanced at the priest waiting in the shadows.
“Antias. Are you still working on the thing I asked for?”
Antias bowed deeply under the rebuke.
He had been experimenting all along with the bloodstones smuggled out of Tartarus.
How much divine power could be absorbed into those stones before they failed?
It was preparation for the day they would capture the soul of the Great Saintess.
