Chapter 76

Ultimately, it seemed like General Farneze had little intention of telling me more about Corps Commander Felicia.
Of course, I wasn’t going to push the issue. But it was clear from their earlier conversation that they were hiding something.

And as someone who had just been used and manipulated by Nehyor, this was not very amusing to me.

The dissatisfaction must have shown on my face, because the General thought about it for a moment and then asked,

“Why did you take in the Reapers, Golan?”

“Why? Because they were relying on me. That’s when I made the decision to take them in. At that point, I didn’t care if I had permission to do so or not.”

She had changed the subject so suddenly, that I blurted out the truth without really thinking.

Protect your friends with your life.
It was the promise I had made with my mother.

And I wasn’t going to break it in this world as well.

“…”

The General was silent for what seemed like a long time.
And then she muttered, ‘well, you’re under my direct control now…’
It was as if she were arguing with herself.

“About Felicia. She is a derivative of a Garuda. Would you understand if I said that one of her parents was an ‘Origin’ type?”

“Someone born as a unique type, and not an advanced type?”
That’s what derivatives were.
A branching path in an evolution.

“If Felicia has descendants of her own one day, and they take the same form, they will become established as their own type.”
Well, it was a bigger deal than I had expected.

“And uh, you’re allowed to tell me this?”
I had been the one to ask. But this talk was about whether or not a new type would be born in the Demon World.

“You must not talk about it elsewhere. Felicia can have children with other Garudas. And so their enemies, the Naga, are threatened by her.”

Garudas and Nagas were mortal enemies.
In the Demon World, there were species specific predispositions that went beyond personal grievances.

Sometimes, they were of similar species, or as in this case, it was a matter of both being predators. Snake and bird.

As for these Naga. They weren’t the serpent or humanoid monsters people thought of in Japan. These looked more like cobras.
They also had four heads coming out of their neck, making them quite interesting to look at.

“The Naga, huh? Aren’t they very vicious and aggressive?”
The type who will charge right at you. Most people considered them to be meatheads, just like us ogres.

“They are not happy with the idea of a new special type of Garuda. And so they launched an attack. After all, there are not many Garudas. However, Felicia used a certain strategy, and annihilated them.”

“Oh…”
No wonder she got her position.

“Of course, that just made them hate her even more. She was targeted specifically after that, and so she fled the country. And after being a wanderer for a while, she came to work for me.”

I had wondered why she was the only one of her kind here. So that was the reason.

“Is she still being targeted?”

“She is. Rumors spread when your name becomes known. And so I kept her out of the spotlight. That’s why I didn’t take her to negotiate with Miralda. I would have preferred to leave such matters to her, but considering the possibility of her enemies finding her, it could not be helped.”

Well, I guess that explained why she took me.

So she really had meant it when she said that I was ‘personnel that she didn’t mind losing.’
Felicia was that valuable to her.

“And the reason that I was taken out from Corps Commander Felicia’s command…”

“Felicia has an incredibly high amount of mana. It is not impossible that she might become a Lesser Demon King one day. That would result in her name being put on the Tablet of Control. Not exactly something she would want. That’s why I had you removed.”

The General then noted with an amused laugh, that it was a good thing that all of Nehyor’s subordinates were of the weaker species.
In other words, Felicia was not likely to become a Lesser Demon King.

While she was supposed to be the brains, she apparently had even more mana than General Farneze.
What a frightful person the General had been hiding.

“While I don’t want you to repeat this to anyone, I do want you to remember it. After all, I may have to ask you to do things in the future, to insure that her name does not leave this place.”

“I am just a humble ogre. Use me as you will.”
At least I had learned that General Farneze also took care of her own.

“Thank you.”
She laughed.

“So it worked out for the better after all. That Nehyor’s subordinates were weak.”
The Gob-gobs, Bian… Most of them were not really suited for combat.

They were the perfect personnel if Corps Commander Felicia didn’t want to become a Lesser Demon King.
It was almost impressive the Nehyor had found all these…found?

“He found them!?”
“What is it, Golan?”

I couldn’t help but think about it.

We Commanders had been gathered together by Nehyor.

Why had he gathered all of these people who weren’t experts in battle?
It was as if he didn’t want to become a Lesser Demon King either… Was it something like that?

“Could Nehyor have been purposely avoiding raising his mana so that he wouldn’t become a Lesser Demon King?”
What if he was really so strong, that it was actually odd that his name wasn’t on the Tablet of Control already?

“I doubt that…no, perhaps it’s possible? But…why?”
Yes. Why?

That was the question. Why did Nehyor want to avoid having his name on the Tablet of Control?
Now that I thought about it, having two Goblin units during a war was absurd.

And he had done the same with the Flying Eagles, which were only good for carrying supplies.
It was as if he was playing.

“Could it be because if his name was there, people would remember what he did three hundred years ago?”

The Wild Hunt that had ravaged the countries of two Demon Kings.
And of course, there were smaller countries that suffered as well.

If his name appeared on the tablet, people would start to search for the old vampire.
And they would likely have more than harsh words for him.

And what if a Great Demon King or Demon King started to search for him as well?

“That’s why he was avoiding it!”
The General seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

“General. This might be a much deeper problem than we thought.”

Why had Nehyor been hiding like this?
And why had he decided to move now?

This was a problem that we were very much involved in.

“Damn it. And we are so close to finalizing this deal with Demon King Tralzard!”

I understood her frustration.

An invasion from Lesser Demon King Leninoth, negotiations with Demon King Tralzard, Nehyor’s betrayal and secret…too many things were happening at the same time.

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Makai Hongi