0.0000001% Demon King - 0DK Chapter 52: A Human’s Warfare (4) (Part 2)  

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“Hey! You crazy bastard!”

Karos swore at Sor, who returned confidently. Sor, expecting praise, was taken aback by the unexpected reaction.

“W-what?”

“Why did you cut off the lord’s head! Who told you to do that!”

“I thought they would surrender if I beheaded the enemy commander…”

“They surrender if you capture him too! Damn it.”

Karos held his forehead. Irina and Vivaldi looked equally exasperated.

“Unbelievable.”

“I didn’t know he was this bad either.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“You call that a question.”

Karos gritted his teeth.

“Bathesia.”

“What?”

“Work him hard.”

“Got it.”

“W-wait. Demon King?”

“Come here, you brat.”

Bathesia dragged Sor away. Despite being much smaller, Bathesia effortlessly dragged Sor, who struggled.

“Demon King! I’m sorry! I was wrong!”

“Just don’t kill him. Don’t kill him.”

“B-brother! Spare me!”

“I have nothing to say for him.”

Vivaldi shrugged.

“Just don’t die.”

“Aah. Aaah…”

Sor’s screams echoed. Karos sat on the chair.

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know…”

Vivaldi trailed off.

“We can’t hide it, and it will be known eventually.”

“We killed the lord in a territorial war. This is going to be a mess.”

Irina muttered.

A territorial war was a fight for noble honor. By imperial law, killing in war was no issue, but the reality was different.

It was an unspoken rule. Soldiers could be killed, but not the lord. The noble bloodline should not be extinguished. That’s why capturing the lord and negotiating was the current practice in territorial wars.

But now they had killed the lord.

“Let’s just deal with this first.”

Karos gestured. The groans of the soldiers could be heard.

Irina nodded with a grim face.

* * *

There was no resistance or rebellion. After the lord died, everyone laid down their arms.

They surrendered so easily that it was almost disconcerting, but it was to be expected. Stukov was not a good lord, and there was no reason for them to fight after his death.

As a result, all the wounded were gathered for treatment.

“Aaah…”

“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts…”

Cries of pain echoed everywhere. Women were diligently treating them, but there were too many to handle easily.

“I’m sorry.”

Irina personally visited each one to console them.

“Because of me, you…”

The injured were more startled by her lowered head. Irina did not stop there, visiting even the wounded from Stukov’s domain to offer words of comfort.

By the time all her rounds were done, it was dawn. Exhausted, she staggered back to her room.

“Do you feel less guilty now?”

“…Do you know what it means to enter a lady’s room without permission?”

“What’s the big deal.”

Despite the darkness making it hard to see, Karos nonchalantly turned the pages of a book. Irina sat on the bed with a tired face.

“One can’t expect manners from a Demon King.”

“You look exhausted.”

“It’s my first battlefield. Blood smells more like iron than I expected.”

“I wasn’t talking about that.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I meant your heart.”

Karos spoke calmly. Irina gave a bitter smile.

“I thought I was good at hiding my feelings.”

“You can’t hide from me.”

Karos closed the book with a disinterested face.

“Speak. It’s good to have someone to confide in, isn’t it?”

“…I am indeed weak.”

Irina muttered self-deprecatingly. She lay back on the bed.

“Forty with minor injuries. Twenty with serious injuries. And fifteen dead.”

Out of a hundred men, two-thirds were injured or dead. Considering they were all able-bodied young men, it was a significant blow to the domain.

“They died because of me.”

She knew there would be casualties. But predictions and experience were different.

Irina’s nails began to dig into her skin.

“A war broke out because of me. If it had been my younger brother, they would have continued their usual lives. Because I became the lord… they were injured and died.”

“Instead, they would have slowly withered away.”

“But they would have been alive.”

Irina closed her eyes.

“If only I hadn’t become the lord…”

She became the lord for her people. But that decision had led to their deaths. The contradiction began to crush her.

“You are better than your brother.”

Karos said to Irina, who was drowning in self-loathing.

“Your people would agree.”

“But they died.”

“Isn’t it better to die for someone they believe in rather than wither away?”

“…Die for someone they believe in?”

“Irina Astrea, you are a good lord.”

After Irina became the lord, she reduced taxes and managed agriculture more efficiently. She bought not luxury goods but necessary items for her people.

Thanks to that, the domain was revitalized. Smiles bloomed on people’s faces.

“If you tried to give the lordship back to your brother, they wouldn’t stand for it. They’d resist with their lives. You are worth risking their lives for.”

“So you’re saying I should ignore their deaths?”

“Which is better, to wither away or to die for someone worth it? Can you say? I value the latter more.”

Karos added indifferently.

“But if it’s too hard, to just bear it. All their lives.”

“…That sounds like a good idea.”

Irina opened her eyes with a determined look.

“Have you composed yourself? It’s hard enough to take care of a subordinate.”

“Humans are weak. Both in spirit and heart.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

Karos stood up. The darkness swirled around him.

“Then I’ll go back.”

“Thank you, Demon King.”

As the door opened, Irina asked Karos, who was about to leave.

“Do you have something to bear too?”

“No.”

Irina laughed at the prompt answer.

“Then why did you tell me to bear it?”

Karos replied.

“Because I know someone who does.”

Hyung_Otaku

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!

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