‘…….’
The one with the strongest hatred for Jerry was, without a doubt, Tom Hardist.
It was obvious, without need for further explanation.
After all, Tom Hardist had genuinely tried to kill Jerry when they first encountered each other.
Even now, the only reason he was leaving him be was not because he had forgiven him, but because he had agreed to Jerry's request to postpone the matter, to kill him later, after the Beastkin Nation was rebuilt.
There were surely many others who disliked Jerry, but Tom Hardist was the only one who displayed his hatred so directly and intensely.
…But.
Ironically, from Jerry's perspective, the most awkward person to deal with was not Tom Hardist.
Of course, that didn't an he was comfortable with Tom, but there was soone who felt even more difficult.
‘…….’
Valencia La Vael Tigris.
To Jerry, she was the most difficult.
The reason was simple.
Like Tom Hardist, who had directly lost his family to Jerry's ancestor, she too had directly lost her family, but strangely, she showed no such feelings of anger.
…In fact, this wasn't the first ti Jerry had approached Valencia.
On the way back after wrapping things up in Aileen Village.
『…I am the heir of Count Dracula…….』
Jerry had revealed his identity to her.
Since he was already connected to Tom Hardist, hiding it was impossible, so he figured it was better to get it over with quickly, like the saying that it's better to get the beating over with first.
Of course, it wasn't an easy thing to say out loud, so it was a decision he had made after so deliberation.
…But.
『I know.』
『…….』
That was the entirety of her response to him.
Even then, she had been tightly gripping U-jin's sword with both hands.
With that single short phrase, uttered before he could even finish his sentence, she had closed her eyes again as if there was nothing more to say.
Bewildered by her incomprehensible reaction, Jerry had no choice but to fall silent and turn back.
It was sothing hard to comprehend unless Valencia was so kind of psychopath.
If what Jerry knew was correct, the most direct factor in the fall of the Beastkin Nation was the assassination of the previous king by his ancestor, Count Dracula.
From her perspective, he was the heir of the enemy who murdered her father, so he couldn't understand why she would react this way.
Besides.
Even if she could sohow get past the matter of her father, Allen Tigris III, she was clearly the heir who was to inherit the throne of the Beastkin Nation.
In other words, the entire territory and the nation itself were, in fact, no different from her inheritance.
Whatever the reason, he couldn't understand how she could maintain such a composed attitude when Count Dracula had burned it all to the ground.
Strictly speaking, it could be said that she had lost even more than Tom Hardist, as she had had more to lose.
‘…….’
The reason Jerry had gone out of his way to co here, getting covered in the dust he hated, was to ask her about that directly.
Because that short reply, ‘I know,’ was so incomprehensible that it had never left his mind.
『…There is sothing I wish to discuss regarding my clan.』
『…About that day.』
But, this ti too, her answer was outside the realm of his expectations.
“If it’s about your clan, you don’t have to worry about it.”
“……?”
“I have no intention of blaming you for that now.”
At the unexpected words, Jerry's brow furrowed for a mont. Valencia, who had turned her gaze to a distant point again, added with a wistful look in her eyes.
“Because I know all about the Vampire Clan’s circumstances.”
“……”
“They defected in the first place for the sake of the Beastkin Nation, taking on all the infamy. I can’t bla them; if anything, I should be grateful.”
It was a sincere statent, with no trace of pretense or deception.
Not that Jerry had the ability to discern such things, but Valencia’s profound eyes seed to prove it.
“……”
A brief silence flowed.
In the quiet, the faint voices of the Beastkin drifted in on the wind.
Fiddle-
Jerry, who fiddled with the edge of his eyebrow a couple of tis with his characteristic gesture, asked once more.
“…You don’t resent him?”
“Of course not.”
“……”
“I understand the Count’s situation. He must have had no other choice.”
An imdiate answer, without a hint of hesitation.
But Jerry still couldn't accept it.
He had co here after organizing all the information in his head, ready to explain the Vampire Clan's circumstances to Valencia and ask for her forgiveness.
He hadn't said a single word yet, so he couldn't understand how she could possibly understand the Vampire Clan's situation and not resent them.
And as if she knew what he was thinking.
She took sothing out from within her clothes and showed it to Jerry.
“I heard everything. On the way here.”
“……!”
What she held up was the half-sword hilt that U-jin had given her.
‘…So it was a success.’
Although she didn't add any other explanation, Jerry could understand her words.
He had been standing right there when U-jin had said that the vestige of Allen Tigris III was imbued in that sword hilt.
However, from what U-jin had said, it didn't seem to be a certainty.
Apparently, it had been successfully imbued.
“I heard that Count Dracula was cornered in the Demon King’s Territory, with his own clan held as collateral.”
“……”
“How can I bla him for that? It was the Beastkin who drove your clan into that situation in the first place.”
“……”
At a glance, it sounded reasonable, but it wasn't so easy to truly understand another's situation.
Especially when such an extre event was involved, people were more likely to follow their emotions rather than reason.
No matter how much one understood that the situation was unavoidable, treating the enemy who killed one's family so nonchalantly was a matter beyond the realm of human composure.
…In the first place, if such a thing were easily possible, Tom Hardist wouldn't have shown such an extre reaction.
‘…….’
‘Is it because it's all in the past?’
That didn't make sense.
While there were rare, seeker-like individuals who didn't dwell on the past, he already knew from the incident in Aileen Village that Valencia was not that type of person.
‘Then is it because she has inherited the throne and gained the qualifications of a king?’
It wasn't impossible, but if that were the case, she should have shown less emotional turmoil when the succession was only halfway complete.
The keyword ‘father’s death’ was too heavy for that to be the sole reason, and the gap between this and Valencia's typical reactions before the succession was too wide.
‘Then is it simply because the royal bloodline is that magnanimous?’
This, too, could be dismissed for similar reasons as above.
‘…….’
Then what on earth was the reason she could speak so calmly, as if it were nothing?
At that mont, Jerry felt a sense of déjà vu.
It was because he felt the sa peculiar, ‘unknowable’ quality in Valencia that he had felt from U-jin.
‘…….’
As Jerry remained silent, unable to comprehend, Valencia turned her head to him.
And she began in a low voice.
“And he said you probably don’t know this either.”
“……?”
Ssk-
“On that day, there wasn’t a single Beastkin that the Count killed with his own hands.”
“……!!”
* * *
That day.
‘There wasn’t a single Beastkin that the Count killed with his own hands.’
Valencia had tossed out the words as if they were nothing.
But in reality, the content of that short sentence was sothing that could not be overlooked.
Every mber of the fallen Beastkin believed that the cause of the Beastkin Nation's fall was Count Dracula.
It was a fact so widely known that even if you were to ask a brat in the marketplace of The Order's territory at the far southern end, they would know it.
It was no longer in the realm of judgnt, but was considered a ‘fact’.
An undeniable, crystal-clear fact that no one doubted.
‘…….’
However, if what Valencia had just said was true.
It ant that what everyone, even Jerry himself, had believed to be a fact was a lie.
In other words, what Valencia had just said wasn't just a casual correction of a misunderstanding that might pop up in conversation, like, ‘That’s not what happened.’
It was a statent that revealed the truth behind the fall of the Beastkin Nation, a truth unknown to everyone in the Upper Plane.
Especially from Jerry's perspective, as soone most deeply involved, it was absolutely not sothing he could just accept and move on from.
Jerry's expression, stained with shock as if he couldn't possibly believe it, proved that fact.
“I didn't know either, but when you think about it, it's a simpler problem than you'd expect.”
“……”
“From the Demon King’s Army’s perspective, would they have lacked the power to crush the Beastkin after the Vampire Clan had left?”
“…They wouldn’t have.”
“Right, it wasn’t that they lacked the power. Of course, since the neutral zone was much larger back then, it wouldn't have been easy to destroy the Beastkin Nation, which served as its leader. But if they were willing to accept so losses, they could have crushed it at any ti. By then, many Demonic Species had already infiltrated the various factions of the neutral zone.”
The truth that flowed from Valencia’s lips was sothing even Jerry had been completely unaware of.
“Nevertheless, the reason they didn't was simply because there was no point in just destroying the neutral zone. They had experienced several cases where they fought hard to win a war, only for The Order to swoop in and swallow up the various personnel and territories that erged from the process.”
“……”
“From the Demon King's side, they needed a way to effectively absorb the remaining territory and its native people while minimizing potential losses.”
“…A justification.”
“Right, to put it simply, they needed a justification. They had started their preparations much earlier, planting Demonic Species while eyeing the neutral zone, but they had watched for a long ti simply because a clear opportunity hadn't presented itself.”
Hearing the explanation up to this point.
A rough roadmap began to form in Jerry's mind.
A roadmap of the political situation that had flowed between The Order and the Demon King at the ti.
“But in that situation, the Vampire Clan, the core military power of the Beastkin, defected to the Demon King's Army?”
“……”
“I’m not sure if they accepted them knowing they had joined hands with The Order, or if they found out along the way. But in the end, from the Demon King's Army's perspective, it was a complete windfall.”
“……”
“A traitor of the Beastkin destroyed the Beastkin Nation out of a personal grudge.”
Shrug-
“It’s a good justification, isn’t it?”
“……”
“It would probably be difficult to absorb the Beastkin, but it wouldn't have been hard to absorb the other factions of the neutral zone, who were in disarray after losing their leader. There must have been a simring envy and jealousy towards the Beastkin Nation among them. And through the Count's case, they had already shown that factions from the neutral zone could receive high positions in the Demon King's Territory without discrimination.”
“…Ah.”
A low sigh of realization escaped Jerry's lips.
“In the end, what the Demon King needed wasn’t Dracula’s power, but his na.”
“……”
“The fact that on that day, Dracula himself went to the Beastkin Nation. The rest wouldn't have been difficult, whether they used Demonic Species or deployed the Demon King's Army.”
The feeling of learning a truth that had been hidden and aged under moss.
It was not a pleasant one.
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