Chapter 58.1: 19-Years-Old (5)

If Hamel's tomb truly existed, then where on earth could it be found?

'...Perhaps Helmuth?' Eugene recalled the location of the place where he had died in his previous life.

After the Oath of Peace had been sworn three hundred years ago, the Demon Kings and the demonfolk had abandoned their invasion plans. Even the monsters who had been driven insane by the Whispers of the Demon Kings came back to their senses. All the demonic beasts spread across the continent with orders to attack people indiscriminately returned to Helmuth without leaving even a single one of their number behind.

A hundred years had passed like this. The Demon King of Destruction remained as silent as always while the Demon King of Incarceration, as the representative of all demonfolk, set about correcting the damage they had done.

Of course, things didn't go so well. There were too many countries that had been destroyed by the demonfolk, leaving too many people who had lost someone precious to the demonfolk. So even though the Demon King himself came forward and bowed his head in apology, the fear and hatred humanity held towards the demonfolk did not subside.

So the Demon King of Incarceration sold out the names of the deceased Demon Kings.

He claimed that even among the Demon Kings, there was a factional divide between the doves and the warhawks. He further added that the deceased Demon Kings of Fury, Cruelty, and Carnage were the members of the warhawk faction, while he was the sole member of the dove faction.

Even the Demon King of Destruction, who had stayed completely neutral and kept their silence throughout the war, hadn't desired this war.

Most of the immediate subordinates of the deceased Demon Kings had been killed by the party of heroes, and the few remaining subordinates were kept under the complete control of the Demon King of Incarceration.

Those Demon Kings were dead anyway. So no matter how much the Demon King of Incarceration maligned them, how were these defeated and deceased Demon Kings supposed to retaliate against this slander?

In addition to this steady push of propaganda, the Demon King of Incarceration also provided generous financial support. He built a grand city on the outskirts of Helmuth for all the refugees who had been displaced by the war. For the countries that had suffered the most terrible devastation, the Demon King dispatched his own men to build new buildings and pave new roads. He also poured huge amounts of war reparations into the treasuries of the victimized countries. On top of that, the Demon King had purged many demonfolk, holding them accountable for these war crimes.

This continued over the next hundred years—no, in fact, reparations for the war were still being handed out. So Helmuth's neighboring countries were still receiving financial support from the Demon King even after three hundred years had passed.

That was how the Devildom of Helmuth was able to become a great empire.

'...An empire, huh?'

Eugene didn't really consider Helmuth to be a true empire. It was just a hell where the different races of demonic beasts, demonfolk, Demon Kings, and the black wizards who had sold their souls to the demons managed to somehow coexist.

However, while Eugene might think this way, the rest of the world recognized Helmuth as an empire. The neighboring countries that continued to receive Helmuth's support were virtually identical to the protectorates of Helmuth.

The capital of Helmuth was named Pandemonium.

This was where the castle of the Demon King of Incarceration could be found.

'There's no way my tomb could really be in Pandemonium.'

How could his body have been laid to rest in the demonfolk-infested capital of Helmuth, which was still ruled over directly by the Demon King of Incarceration? That just couldn't be possible. If that indeed was where his tomb lay, it was practically an insult to all Hamel had done in his life.

If his companions had actually managed to slay the Demon Kings of Incarceration and Destruction and then went on to annihilate all the demonfolk living in Helmuth, then he wouldn't have minded if they had built his tomb there. Instead, under these different circumstances, he would have been happy to accept such an honor.

But they had failed. Both the Demon King of Incarceration and the Demon King of Destruction were alive and well.

'In the first place, did my corpse really survive that curse?'

Well, it wasn't like you strictly needed a corpse to construct a tomb, but seeing as Sienna had left her familiar there and become enraged that someone had managed to break into the tomb... it looked like his corpse really had been hidden away somewhere in this world.

But where? If it's a tomb, weren't they usually built in a place that was deeply connected to the deceased person? There was no way it would be in the Demon King of Incarceration's castle, so....

Eugene suddenly realized, '...Could it be in my homeland?'

If it's a place suitable for building a tomb, wasn't his homeland the most likely site? Eugene recalled his homeland, which he had never been too attached to in his previous life.

Hamel's hometown had been located in the frontier regions of the Turas Kingdom. Although he didn't know what it was like now, it had been an extremely unpleasant place to live back in his previous life. Monsters frequently emerged from the nearby forests, and pirates from the mainland of Turas often came in raiding from across the sea.

"Sir Eugene?" a voice called out to him.

Eugene had been in the middle of taking a walk outside of Akron to organize his thoughts. As he heard this voice suddenly call out to him, Eugene gritted his teeth in annoyance. For some reason, the wizards who were showing an interest in him seemed to really like the idea of an 'accidental' meeting. Was it because they wanted to make the meeting seem more casual? But if that was the case, they should at least properly hide all the obvious signs. The wizard waiting for him had been shuffling around impatiently as if he was just begging to be noticed, and when Eugene failed to show any reaction and just ignored him, the man had started talking to him anyway.

"Is there something you need? At this midnight hour," Eugene bit out impatiently.

"I was actually following you, Sir Eugene," the man admitted.

Still, at least it was fortunate that the man who had come looking for him was Balzac Ludbeth and not the Commander of the Court Wizards or the Green Tower Master. Balzac walked out from under the magic street light and smiled at Eugene.

"I've actually been following you ever since you left Akron. Did you not notice, Sir Eugene?" Balzac asked him.

"I noticed it immediately," Eugene revealed. "I just kept quiet since the Black Tower Master seemingly pretended not to recognize me."

"You seem to be in a bad mood," Balzac observed.

"Well, what's new about that," Eugene scoffed.

"That's true. However, it seems that your mood just happens to always be bad whenever we happen to meet. Could it really be because of me?" Balzac asked politely.

"It seems you're well aware of the truth," Eugene nodded.

He had met the Black Tower Master quite a lot of times during the past two years he had spent in Aroth, though they hadn't really talked much whenever they met. Usually, the Black Tower Master was the first to try and greet him, and Eugene would exchange a perfunctory greeting while showing his blatant displeasure.

That was all there was to it. They had never once shared a good conversation. Fortunately, the Black Tower Master didn't seem to take any offense to Eugene's attitude, nor did he try to stick to Eugene like the Commander of the Court Wizards and the Green Tower Master had done.

Balzac got straight to the point, "I've heard that you will be leaving Aroth."

"Where did you hear that from?" Eugene questioned.

"I've heard it said in many places. Sir Eugene, could you really have believed that rumors would not flow even after the Red Tower of Magic began to prepare a farewell party for you?" Balzac appeared surprised.

"It seems that the position of the Black Tower Master is actually pretty comfortable since you have so much time to carefully listen to the affairs of the other Towers of Magic. Wouldn't it be better for you to use such passion to pay more attention to the activities of your own Black Tower of Magic?" Eugene suggested.

Balzac shrugged, "Even without me getting involved, the wizards of the Black Tower of Magic are doing fine on their own. Thanks to that, I'm very free."

Even though Eugene had openly rebuked him, the Black Tower Master's smile never wavered. Eugene disliked this Black Tower Master. Honestly speaking, he hated Balzac and felt disgusted by him.

During his past two years in Aroth, Eugene had heard various rumors about the man several times. Balzac Ludbeth was quite a unique individual even compared to the other Tower Masters.

Decades ago, Balzac hadn't been a black wizard. Originally, he used to be a member of the Blue Tower of Magic, and on top of that, he was an outstanding wizard who was almost certain to become the next Tower Master. The current Blue Tower Master was Hiridus Euzeland, but when Balzac was still in the Blue Tower of Magic, Hiridus had always been evaluated to be worse than Balzac.

Balzac should have risen to become the next Blue Tower Master within a few years, but he had suddenly left the Blue Tower of Magic and gone to Helmuth. The reason he gave was that he wanted to broaden his knowledge of magic.

Ten years later, Balzac, who returned from Helmuth, had already become a Black Wizard. Immediately after returning to Aroth, he transferred his membership from the Blue Tower of Magic over to the Black Tower of Magic. Then, while winning the recognition of the Black Tower Master and receiving the overwhelming support of the other black wizards, he rose to become the new Black Tower Master.

After rising to the position of the Black Tower Master in this manner, Balzac didn't appear to do anything within the environs of Aroth. Balzac had even managed to maintain a good relationship with Hiridus, who had become the Blue Tower Master, and he reached a friendly consensus with the Blue Tower of Magic itself. He showed respect to the Royal Family while also being close to the Parliament. He also stayed on good terms with both the White Tower of Magic and the Green Tower of Magic.