Kenja no Mago
Volume 9 - The Astounding Invasion of the Devils
098 – A man's incident
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NOTE: There are a few kingdoms names that don't have an official translation yet. I don't know what names the fan translator have been using for the manga, light novel or the first part of the web novel so the following are the names I am going to be using. The 4 kingdoms that surround the Bluesphere Empire (now demon territory) besides the Earlshide Kingdome are: Swedes Kingdom, Dahm Kingdom, Canan Kingdom and Kurto Kingdom. Besides those we also have in the coalition the non-adjacent countries of Ys Holy Nation and Els Federation of Free Commerce. I might change them later if they are given official names.
As the end of the campaign to capture the demon's territory drew closer; the nations in the coalition were hoping to resolve the situation as soon as possible, so the ministers of each country had gathered to discuss the final details.
The delegates had been staying all the way in Dahm, where the conference was being held, since the communications equipment is now spread to all countries.
It has been several months since the operation started, and the number of troops dispatched from each country has been reduced by half. All we need to do to finish this operation is to surround the former imperial capital, from a distance that does not provoke Schtrom, and build a surveillance network. After that, if the demons make any strange movements, Shin and the other Ultimate Magicians will immediately respond.
The soldiers from all the countries who witnessed the previous magic battle against the demons have developed tremendous trust in Shin and his team, believing that if Shin and his team could overwhelm the demons, then they would be able to handle anything that might happen in the future.
However, if things were to happen without our knowledge, then even Shin and his team won't be able prevent it. That's why completing the surveillance network is necessary to achieve peace for the sake of humanity; which is what everyone believes.
However, considering the fact that Shin and the others wouldn't live forever, what would happen if the Ultimate Magicians were to disappear in the future? The only upside is that there are no reported cases of demons giving birth to children hence it is presumed that the number of demons probably wouldn't increase more than the ones present.
Therefore, although it was up to Shin and the others to put an end to this turmoil, finishing the surveillance network took precedence since it would signify the end of the campaign in the demon territory.
With the end in sight, the conference then switched to the next topic which revolved around the reallocation of the demon's territory after this turmoil was over. In actual sense, the territory allocation had already been settled but why was this topic on the agenda again, you ask? The reason is because of a situation that had arisen.
"Well then, let's start our discussions on the redistribution of demon's territory that will belong to Dahm from our previous agreement. Is that alright?"
While the ministers nodded silently at the words of Earlshide's representative who was leading the meeting, the representative of Dahm looked as if he had bitten a bitter worm.
"…"
"Is that ok with you, Dahm's representative?"
"Eh… it is fine…"
In the course of this subjugation mission in the demon's territory, Ralph, the representative of Dahm's army, went out of control, causing the demons to escape. Of course, despite this not being Dahm's decision but rather Ralph's own personal outburst, we cannot simply chalk up this situation to being a personal blunder.
Shin and the rest of the Ultimate Magicians would have been able to drive away the demons eventually even if the demons wouldn't have been found in that opportunity. However the danger faced by both soldiers and civilians would have increased. In other words, Ralph's reckless actions almost crushed the possibility of an early resolution to this emergency and almost caused needless harm to humanity.
Dahm was entirely responsible for allowing such a dangerous man to be a representative of the military and they couldn't let it go without repercussions. As for the incident that led to Ralph's outburst, we were able to roughly understand the facts thanks to an onsite investigation.
The investigation revealed that Ralph was against Shin and Sicily being called God s Herald and a Saint respectively. The outburst was a result of him trying to discredit Shin by preventing Shin from getting merits on the operation.
This infuriated Ys since it was her eminence the Pope Ekaterina who recognized Shin as God's Herald. The Ys representative was greatly displeased about the fact that they had shunned Shin and tried to snatch the merit from him despite Shin being recognized by the beloved eminence the Pope.
However, Dahm's representative, who is participating in this meeting, along with the other higher-ups of Dahm, including the King, were on board about calling Shin a God's Herald.
That being said, Dahm was put in an incredible predicament by Ralph, one of the minorities who was against calling Shin, God's Herald. Of course Ralph's outburst has not been revealed to the general public, but the higher ups have naturally been informed of this.
As a result, considering the amount of trust Dahm had lost because Ralph had gone out of control, even those who had previously supported Ralph had expressed their anger. The same was true of the Dahm representative present at the meeting.
"That plague! If he had quietly participated in the operation, we could have expanded our territory. If only you had kept quiet!"
Dahm's representative inwardly cursed Ralph as he watched the meeting with a bitter expression, which was advancing without his input.
In the end, the territory that originally would have been ceded to Dahm was cut in half, and redistributed to the three other surrounding countries: Swedes, Canan and Kurto.
Since the holy nation of Ys had expressed their displeasure, Dahm's representative, despite being a member of Dahm's cabinet of ministers, was not allowed to contest the decision and could only nod his head in agreement as he was left without room for negotiation. Dahm received some pretty strong words of criticism from the Ys representative; seriously wounding their pride.
To make matters worse, this conference is being held in the Kingdom of Dahm, due to its unique geographical location. This made world conference a particularly miserable experience for the country that held it.
"Curse your damnable actions, Ralph!"
Dahm's representative bellowed when he got back home as he kicked the furniture in his room; unleashing the pent up anger he had been holding back.
The servants were baffled by their master's outburst because he normally wouldn't display his anger so vocally, and even his wife did not approach the room from where loud crashes and noises could occasionally be heard.
"Hah… huh… Damn! How will I report this to His Majesty…"
He had been so miserable at the conference yet he still had to report the results of that to the king. That fact was so depressing that the Dahm representative wanted to run away; but the report had to be made.
Anger and depression tormented the Dahm representative's spirit while he sat amid the things strewn around after the rampage. However, something strange happened while he was sitting at his desk holding his head.
(Don't you just hate it?)
"Huh?!"
Startled by the voice he suddenly heard, the Dahm representative looked around looking for its source but couldn't find anyone, since even the servants hadn't approached the room for fear of their master's anger.
Is it my imagination?" he thought.
(Don't you just hate it?)
He heard the voice again.
"Who, Who is that!? Come out!"
The representative of Dahm shouted, but the owner of the voice didn't appear.
"Damn it! Who are you? Where are you hiding?"
(You did nothing wrong, but you were accused and blamed.)
The voice said what the representative of Dahm had been thinking.
"Yes… I didn't do anything wrong… it was all that madman fault, Ralph's fault…"
Ralph, who was trusted before, was now being called a 'madman' by the higher-ups at Dahm because of his outburst.
(That's right. For the sake of one lunatic, you, a good man, were unjustly humiliated.)
"Yeah it's his fault… his…"
At the time, had the representative of Dahm been in a normal state of mind, he would have noticed the black magic power that filled the room. However, anger and depression made him mentally vulnerable thus he gradually fell into a state of hypnosis and obediently listened to the unseen voice.
(That man should have been the one to blame, not you.)
"Yes! So why, why should I be the one subjected to this humiliation?"
(It's not your fault… It's not your fault)
"Yes… it's not my fault… it's not my fault…"
In this way, while enveloped in black magic, the representative of Dahm listened to the unseen voice.
A short while later, the Dahm representative left his home in a carriage to take his report to the king. No one saw the person watching him from the roof of his house.
"Now, dance well, my experiment"
The figure muttered that and then disappeared.
"So… it ended up as predicted…"
"Hah! How unfortunate…"
The Dahm's representative had arrived at the royal castle and was reporting the results of the conference to the King. The King of Dahm wore a wry expression on his face when heard the report.
"Indeed, our country's image has been ruined by this incident this time."
"…"
The king's self-mocking words left Dahm's representative speechless.
"Was this due to my lack of judgment…?"
"That's not true, your majesty!"
"Yes, I was the one who didn't notice the darkness in Ralph's heart and appointed him to be the Chief of our Army. The blame for all this lies with me."
The heartache seems to have aged the already elderly king.
"Thank you. I'm sure that as the conference continues you'll find yourself in a more painful position, but I'm counting on you."
"That… I'm unworthy of those words…"
The devotion of his good representative weighty heavily on the kind king, giving him a heartache. Seeing this made Dahm's representative grow even more angry and hateful towards Ralph. In fact so much that, from that night onward, he would continue having certain dreams.
His dreams were filled with the voice from that time, telling him that he was not at fault, defending him by shifting blame onto others. In the end, whenever he was in a difficult a position, he looked to that voice in his dreams for help; further causing him to lower the defenses in his mind.
Had anyone looked into his bedroom at that time, they would have fainted because black magic was entwined with him as if to darken his heart and mind. Even his wife, had been so frightened by the sudden change in character that she had taken a separate bedroom.
Thus, unbeknownst to anyone, he was being eroded by the black magic power, and was becoming more and more despondent by the day. The people at his home were so frightened by his condition that they even avoided eating with him.
Though the ministers of each country noticed the unusual changes in the Dahm's representative, everyone assumed that he was suffering from mental fatigue due to the contents of the conferences that had been so detrimental to Dahm. They thought about calling out to him, but hesitated because they were the ones who had to enforce Dahm's accountability.
Therefore, even though everyone noticed something unusual about the man, they still failed to act and. As a result, no one noticed that a certain determination had been born in the Dahm representative mind. In his mind, the culprit responsible for his current predicament had already been identified.
It's not me who is to blame… the blame lies… with the man that made those decisions…"
As the world entered spring and the New Year began, the monitoring network was on the verge of completion.