The Villainess That Was Once A VRMMO player - CH 59.1

The result of the Battle

“This is…terrible!”

The girl’s grief-stricken voice echoed through the ruins of the battlefield.

The blow from the Demon King and the Spirits created a crater a hundred meters in diameter in the Demon Forest battlefield, and when the massive cloud of dust cleared, the Demon King had disappeared along with the Dark Dragon.

Despite this destruction, there were not many casualties. Although the blast site was hapless, many soldiers were able to escape because the range of the attack did not widen, probably because the two sides were in a competitive situation.

“Spirit-san…”

Gusun… the blonde girl bursts into tears.

Most of the lower-class spirits had been extinguished in the exchange of fire with the Demon King. However, spirit life forms such as Spirit and Demon revive in the spirit world over time, even after they have perished.

“Alice, the Spirits must be pleased to be able to protect you.”

“Oh, those Daemons! I’ll never forgive them!”

[…]

The wounded soldiers looked at the grieving Alice, who was comforted by Crown Prince Julio and Ian, as if they didn’t care about their battered appearance.

The number of those who died in this battle was more than 600, or more than 10% of those who participated in this event. Nearly 400 of them were knights, who fought a girl who appeared to be the Demon King and lost, but it was the Spirit’s attack, as requested by Alice, that killed most of the ordinary soldiers.

It is true that many soldiers were involved in that mighty attack, but it is also true that the soldiers who were first killed by the many Spirits would have been killed by the Demon King if not for the Demon King’s counterattack.

Somewhere in the back of their minds, they understood that there would have been many more casualties, but they bit their teeth in frustration that their comrades and friends died because they were shot from behind by their allies, instead of dying while fighting the enemy.

The problem was that most of the casualties in this battle were knights, the main fighting force, although they only accounted for about 10% of the total.

The Crown Prince was supposed to be just an addition to gain fame as the next king for defeating the invading Daemons, but the loss of many of the nobles who made up the majority of the knights was, in terms of battle results, a disastrous defeat.

In particular, the loss of [Sword Saint] Bert, who went missing after engaging in a one-on-one battle with the Demon King, was a considerable blow to the Caenista Kingdom.

Away from Alice and Abel, who were consoling her, Julio and Ian began to whisper to each other.

“This is a grave situation…”

“It’s all the Demon King’s fault. If only that thing hadn’t come out, we only had to take care of the filthy Daemon village, and we could have gotten Alice recognized by the nobles.”

“I’m all for being a little bit dirty, but…”

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing. If things continue as they are, there will be nobles who will complain about my succession. Father may also give the succession to Flare, who, despite her personality, is more like royalty than any other. If that happens, it will be bad.”

“I’m glad you’re suffering, but…”

“What?”

“No, no. If this continues, it will at least make it difficult to make Alice a Crown Princess of Julio-sama.”

“Is that okay with you, Ian? Are you…”

“I’m fine with Alice tormenting me regularly…no, it’s enough for me to be able to see her face. Just the thought of Alice as queen and being forced to do all kinds of impossible things to me makes my heart skip a beat.”

“I also cringe at the thought of sharing a bedchamber with a commoner.”

Julio and Ian smiled a dreamy, sickening smile.

“Of course, we blame Daemons for everything, but I think we should take more concrete steps.”

“Do you have any ideas? Ian.”

“Of course I do. I’m certain this will work!”

***

“…. Nn.”

[Carol!]

When I woke up, Pochi’s face was all over my field of vision, licking me all over my face. …you’re becoming more and more doggy-like, aren’t you?

“Is this…?”

I only raised my upper body and looked around. Apparently, we were still in the Demon Forest, but even if we disregard the lack of any sign of creatures due to fear of the dark dragon Pochi, it appeared to be quite secluded, with no sign of human intervention.

When I tried to stand up, my vision blurred, accompanied by a terrible feeling of weakness. There may be some backlash from the use of 10th class magic, but even though I was stronger in terms of combat because my skills were better than before, I still couldn’t compare it to the time when I was a Player in terms of strength and endurance.

“What has happened since then to the Daemon City?”

[Okay, I’ll explain!]

Great.

Pochi told me that the my and the Spirit’s attacks didn’t completely cancel each other out, but they did narrow the area considerably, and a lot of the ordinary soldiers survived.

…Good. I concentrated it on the nobles, since most of the knights were nobles, but I didn’t want to bring along the ordinary soldiers, who were also commoners.

However, since the Spirits who confronted me and I were near the center of the explosion, we were directly hit by the shockwave, and many of the lower-class Spirits were extinguished as a result. I fainted after running out of magical power, and I heard Pochi had to carry me away in its mouth.

“Thanks, Pochi.”

[Mm. No big deal.”]

Pochi said pompously, but its tail was still wagging around.

It seems like we passed over the Daemon city on the way here, but the Daemons had already evacuated. Pochi thought about joining them, but since there was “baggage” to carry, Pochi decided to evacuate.

So, was that the baggage?

[Mm-hmm.]

…That looked like “Uncle Bert” to me, though.

I wondered why Pochi brought him here, but he seems to have just fainted, since there was no noticeable injury and his chest was moving.

At any rate, I poke him with the heel of my high-heeled shoes while sitting down, and he groans, “…ughh,” as if in a daze, then suddenly gets up as he sees me.

“Yo, girl!”

“…Good morning.”

He seemed to have been sleeping well. Bert-san appeared to be hurt there, but he gulped and stretched his shoulders as he sat on the ground, sipping water from a canteen on his hip.

“By the way, what’s [Witch]’s young lady doing here?”

“Huh?”

I didn’t understand the meaning for a moment, but then I noticed that the effect of the chemical had worn off, and my dress had turned back to red. …Should I fake this?

“There’s also the Demon King’s dragon…the Demon King is…Nn~?”

“…”

This was a brilliant piece of evidence, but Bert-san didn’t seem to understand it well, even with all the circumstantial evidence. I sometimes encountered this in games, but it was not funny to see a real muscle brain who was extremely focused on his fighting skills.

“I am the Demon King.”

“Oh, really! That’s why you’re so strong. I’m convinced.”

It was too much trouble to explain, so I told him straight up.

To be honest, I felt a bit embarrassed to be called the Demon King, but this was the quickest way to explain it in a way that even a muscle brain could understand.

So, what should I do now? Because [Witch] and [Demon King] were just different colors, perhaps some of the witnesses noticed. But I couldn’t let Bert-san go home because even if I let him go without warning him, some people might be able to deduce the truth from his testimony.

…If I hit Bert-san seriously on the head about 10 times, would his memory be affected?