Esther de Baronia - Chapter 5.2

The country is now surrounded not by its original forested territory, but by a vast expanse of grassland that has been transformed by a series of bizarre natural disasters.

It was very strange to see a gorgeous country without roads, standing alone, with a strange presence.

The surrounding soil is very rich, thanks to the absence of any signs of human habitation. To the west is a range of mountains, and to the north is a large dormant volcano. The cliffs to the south provide a suitable environment for demons to live.

It’s a shame that they couldn’t find any frozen soil, so they dug a cavity underground and pushed a flightless dragon [Frosted Wyvern] that breathed ice into it to create a simulated environment, and let the demons that love the cold live there.

It’s not impossible to recreate a volcano, but there’s a risk that it would have a huge impact on the country, so they push themselves to find one.

What would they have done if they had not found it? Perhaps a fire of epic proportions is waiting.

But they don’t need to think about that now. They have completed their reconnaissance from above and on the ground, covering a 23km radius around the castle, and have secured the land they need as a priority.

It would have been better if they had conquered other lands as well, but since they had not yet obtained detailed information about this world, they are strictly ordered not to invade it carelessly.

When Karon heard that a country had been found at a distance, it was certain that if they secured the territory, they would not be able to avoid conflict.

He is not sure what the boundaries are, and he has only taken a minimal amount of land, but there’s no way they’ll understand Karon’s concern, and he’s sure he’ll be involved sooner or later. The only difference is whether it is too late or too early.

It’s decided between the king and Rushka, who is in charge of the internal affairs of Baronia, that they’ll go ahead with things without thinking about it now, and will think about it when the time comes.

The slow-moving Baronian expeditionary force has conquered the last remaining volcano in the north and is on its way to the capital.

It’s not that they’ve conquered the volcanoes, but their role is to determine if the creatures living there are a hindrance, remove them, and set up defenses.

Some demons are living there, but they don’t want to listen, so they have to be killed.

Now that they have completed the desired environment preparation, they will return to the country to report back and conclude their mission.

The soil has been secured, but it will take some time to escort the demons from there, so the problem has not been completely solved, but for the time being, they are on the right track.

The leaders of each legion are heading home in a very refreshed mood, knowing that they will no longer be needed.

The sight of demons, vampires, wights and huge ugly monsters marching in a line is a sight to behold.

The earth-shaking walking monsters look like chariots and the surrounding demons and vampires look like infantry.

It is no less than the Night Parade of the Hundred Demons, which creates a huge commotion if anyone sees it. Fortunately, there are no human or demon shadows in the vicinity, just a bizarre march going on solemnly.

“It’s hot. How can you live in a place like that?”

A slightly mature boy’s voice melts into the sky as it comes from above a huge boar that is walking heavily.

His white hair and jade eyes are unusual, but the two twisted horns that grow from his temples to the top of his head are much stranger.

He wears nothing on his upper body, and the twisted horns that grow from his back and his unusually enlarged right arm catch the eye. Thick blood vessels can be seen pulsating beneath the reddish-black skin, and the hands are so large that it can grasp the body of a grown man with just one.

The boy, wearing a flamboyantly embroidered ink-black hakama, scratches his head and lets out a big yawn.

He is a beautiful boy with a neat face, but he has an inhuman appearance. He is called Mamoru, the leader of the fourth group, the rank 10 deformed species [Tao Tei].

He is still young among the demons that Karon has created, but when he reveals his true form, he will be one of the top three demons in the world with a huge human-faced cow body. If it were only about power, even Gladora would not be able to match it.

Although he is young, he is moody, and because he can’t move fast enough, he is reluctant to go on small expeditions like this one.

His self-satisfied and arrogant nature is one of the reasons for his reluctance, but his slowness is also probably due to the fact that he is a slow cow. Although he is walking diligently, he is literally walking like a cow. It’s understandable why he doesn’t want to walk.

Even when they see the sloppy appearance of the corps commander, the variants don’t react as usual, but the stalwart who is accompanying them this time cannot overlook his negligence.

The samurai, whose demeanor is quietly reminiscent of a sharp blade, kicks the ground and jumps up into the air, then jumps on the boar’s back and explodes into Mamoru’s side with an unstoppably fast spinning kick.

Mamoru who is kicked by him lands on the ground and rubs his stubbled chin.

The samurai is an austere swordsman of mature years, dressed in a pale blue haori and dark hakama, with black hair mixed with gray tied behind his back.

A magnificent horn protrudes from his forehead, and on the back of his haori are Sanskrit characters written in a circle and a large demon character.

The pattern is a bit nonsensical, but buried in the nonsense and hard to notice is the national’s seal on the lapel.

“What are you doing, soldier? You’re hurting me.”

The leader of the 7th group. The head of the demons, the rank 9 sub-racial [High King Demon] Gorobei, scrapes the ground with his sandals and plays with his chin with the hand that came out of his breast collar, making his originally tight eyes even tighter.

Mamoru, who’s kicked away, bounces off the ground six times, but comes back from the position from which he had flown, with only a little dirt on him and not a single injury.

He rubs his sleepy eyes and pouts a little, but Gorobei isn’t fooled by that look.

“Are you still in charge of the army, or are you too lazy to do anything about it?”

“Do you know how slow I am? Even a child can beat me.”

“That’s something you can handle with spirit! I’m not sure why you’re so slow even when you’re in human form. And you still haven’t reached me!”

It is true that he was blown away, but if he ran a little, he would get to the front of Gorobei.

However, Mamoru walks so slow that the question arose as to how he could walk so slowly.

“If you are in your original form, you can go a little faster at this speed, but in human form, you’re slow like this.”

“That’s enough, Gorobe!”

“Who’s Gorobe? I am Gorobei.”

He lifts his eyes and barks at Mamoru to correct it, but Mamoru covers his ears and frowns, refusing to listen.

If it says Gorobei, you will probably want to pronounce it as Gorobei or Gorobe, but the correct name is Gorohyoe.

There is a story that Karon made a mistake when he converted the name to Gorobei and registered the reading as Gorohyoe, but it might be a little harsh to inform Gobobei, who is proud of this name.

Gorobei is the most hard-headed of the seventeen Baronial pillars.

He hates crookedness, respects propriety, and has none of the gusto or panache of a demon. He’s like a nagging uncle, and not well-liked.

It’s not that they dislike him like a child because of his whining and complaining, but the problem lies not in his other character, “blind faith” ……, but in his own sexual preferences.

”Your behavior is degrading to the Lord! If such a thing distorts the Lord’s face into sorrow, it will …… be intriguing!”

The reason why he’s hated was because he’s a pervert who lusts after the king because of his “blind faith”.

Unfortunately, even in demon society, homosexuality is not considered a good thing, and sentient beings are not in vogue, so he is just a snob.

“…… I think your statement is degrading the king enough.”

He’s dandy when he keeps his mouth shut, but when he opens his mouth to talk about the king, he would snort and his eyes would glaze over.

He’s such a disappointing demon that the demonesses lament that he would be decent if he doesn’t have this.

“Hey, leave it at that. The marching is already around the corner, I’d feel sorry for the soldiers if you were to stop now.”

Mamoru is getting fed up with Gorobei, who’s passionately talking about his love for the king and being unprincipled, when a helper suddenly appears.

A short old man appears at their side without a sound.

“Aren’t you late?”

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to get involved.”

“They’re really bad.”

The old man laughs in a well-pitched voice.

It’s warm, almost early summer, but the old man is wearing a black suit with National seal embroidered on the left side of his chest and holding a walking stick.

He is no taller than 150cm and looks old and shrunken, but his back is straight and strong, giving the impression that he is a martial arts enthusiast.

He wears a black silk hat and a scarf around his neck like a mafia boss, but he doesn’t look vulgar and has the air of a good-natured old man.

Albert, the rank 10 demon species [True Ancestor] who controls the vampires, is the leader of the third group. He steps in between Gorobei and Mamoru and puts his hand on their chests to restrain their movements.

He admonishes a gentle smile, but it seems like he is thinking of something bad behind his back, which makes him look suspicious no matter what he is doing.

He hasn’t given the character of “cunning” or “harmony”.

“Gorobei-dono, shouldn’t you go quickly since your beloved king is waiting for your report? That’s why Morizen-dono doesn’t want to walk on his own. It will cause trouble for everyone and for the king. Why don’t we cut him some slack here?”

Moruzen-dono thinks so too, so he doesn’t want to walk himself. It would inconvenience everyone and the king. I think we should tolerate him here.

“Well… there’s nothing I can tell you. I was not considerate enough. Forgive me, Mamoru.”

Gorobei, who’s well rounded, bows deeply with an apologetic look on his face. Albert is not sure how easy it is to put some sense into them when he used Karon as bait, but it saved the day.

Albert nods his head in satisfaction, but it doesn’t make Mamoru feel any better.

“Well, yes. Then I’ll pay you back and we’ll call it even.”

“No, what is the return…ahhhhh….”

The moment Gorobei looks up questioningly at Mamoru, who has a nasty smile on his face, his ugly right powerful arm swings out to strike Gorobei sideways a moment later.

The arm that swings out, pushes forward, snapping the ribs and blasting the target far away with bullet-like speed, and the pitiful scream fades out.

“Well, one shot is one shot, right? And I’m slow on my feet, but I’m quick with my hands, you know?”

With satisfaction, he checks the feel of his fist and distorts his beautiful face badly. There’s not an ounce of guilt in it.

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to beat me up like that, isn’t that quite a way to treat me?”

A soft black mist forms a figure next to Mamoru, and when it clears, Albert appears there, aloof.

The moment Albert noticed the declaration of war, he seemed to have turned into a mist and ducked, and Mamoru clicked his tongue blatantly at the fact that he failed to hit him too.

“As for you, I’d beat the crap out of you any day, daylight walker. I’m not sure I’d let a rotting corpse walk around in the daylight.”

“Ha-ha! Well, with my blessing, the rotten world is free in the daytime. You’ll have to forgive me, since the only pawn I have is a rotting corpse.”

“Hmmm, I guess I won’t live long enough to be spotted by the four perils!” (T/n: not sure what does he mean here.)

“Oh, you’re disgusting. There aren’t many people who can kill you.”

Mamoru’s cheeks puffed out, he seems to have lost interest and slows to a crawl to get to the boar.

Gazing at the back of his head, Albert holds his cane tightly and puts his silk hat on deeply to hide his expression.

”No, there is.There’s someone who can kill us monsters.The man worthy of being a hero.”