Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 186: Path of Pilgrimage (1)

Chapter 186: Path of Pilgrimage (1)

Wittenmyer got off work early for the first time in a very long while.

Early for him, however, was normal closing hours. This youngster was so earnest, that his earnestness alone was enough to have rumors about him spread throughout the other government departments.

“The insomniac commissioner.”

People would stand in awe as they called him that.

Wittenmyer literally did not sleep. He would always come to work earlier than anyone else and leave later than anyone else. Even the officers who were on night duty never saw him get up from his seat to leave work for the day.

Wittenmyer from the General Affairs Department did not sleep, he was Minerva’s owl, a guard dog loyal to Elizabeth’s commands who kept an eye on everything……. The rumors made it sound like he was a ghost who wandered the departments.

This very person had left work at a normal time.

An uproar occurred within the General Affairs Department.

“We must have done something wrong!”

“This is his way of scorning us for being lazy……!”

“Everyone, do not even think about going home today. We are all doing overtime.”

The other officers gave a resolute nod.

Wittenmyer managed to make all of his coworkers stay late after work simply by leaving at a normal time. This was the moment a new legend was created within the New Habsburg Republic. On the other hand, Wittenmyer himself had no idea that he had made such an outstanding accomplishment as he headed to a bar…….

“Hey, General Affairs Baron! Over here!”

Someone shouted as soon as he entered the building. There was already a group of people who were occupying a corner of the bar. Wittenmyer confirmed their faces before letting out a sigh and approaching them.

“General Schleiermacher, how many times do I have to tell you this? I am no longer a baron. A long time has passed since I have discarded my title as a noble.”

“Oh, right. You did do that. I forgot. Haha.”

“Please be careful.”

Kurz Schleiermacher gave a cheeky laugh.

Wittenmyer let out another sigh once he saw this. This man named Kurz was definitely a capable person, but he couldn’t get close to him for some reason. It wasn’t simply because their personalities didn’t match. Wittenmyer felt like they weren’t aligned in a more fundamental aspect.

It’d be fine if it was simply a feeling, but……Wittenmyer thought to himself as he sat down. Soon after they clinked their beer mugs together.

“Isn’t this the first time that the five of us have gathered since the founding of the country?”

“Mm. Probably. My memory isn’t exactly trustworthy, though.”

“You’re right. You can trust my memory, Foreign Affairs Chief.”

“Please call me Heidelberg. There is nothing greater than when a beauty calls you by your name.”

Kurz, Wolfram, Charles, and Julia were seated at the table.

Including Wittenmyer, that made 5 people. The people here were all Imperial Princess Elizabeth’s closest aides. There were hundreds of humans who would tremble in fear if they knew that these people had gathered in a single place. Even now, they were the only people present in the bar excluding the bar owner.

Kurz Schleiermacher, the supreme commander of the imperial guard. Wolfram Heidelberg, the chief of Foreign Affairs. Charles Richthofen, the captain of the royal knights. Julia, the first secretary. And finally, Maximillian Wittenmyer, chief of General Affairs…….

The top members of the republic were all gathered here. It wouldn’t be weird if they started to immediately discuss a coup. If these people were to talk about killing someone today, then that person’s corpse would probably be discovered the next day.

“It is hard to believe that a month has already passed.”

Julia commented as she drank her wine. Even her voice had a type of charm to it as it was capable of pulling the attention of other people’s ears even when she was speaking quietly.

“Indeed. It does not feel like even a month has passed. To be honest, things still do not feel very organized…….”

“Is that so, Sir Heidelberg? My knights aren’t particularly busy right now.”

“Never before have I ever been as jealous as I am now of soldiers, Captain Charles. I would go and form an alliance with the Demon Lord army if it means I could hold a sword instead of a pen.”

Wolfram Heidelberg smiled bitterly.

“It is already hard enough trying to form a bond with a single nation, and yet, I am currently carrying out a battle of wits against twelve nations all at once in order to establish diplomatic ties. They are all mulling over what they can do to send as little support funds as possible and how much they should support to spare our republic’s life! They are damned bastards. It would probably be easier to negotiate with demons.”

He shook his head comically. The other chuckled.

“Do not think we are all like Captain Charles just because we are soldiers.”

Kurz Schleiermacher shrugged.

“It is miserable over here. The number of generals has decreased drastically since the nobles are being killed off. We are trying our best to discover talented people and give them higher positions, but I must confess, this is all a vain effort. The military is only barely maintaining its outer appearance.”

“Is that so? I heard that you received a lot of volunteer officers.”

Schleiermacher let out a sigh.

“Yes, we did. If I were to send out a draft notice right now, then I could probably scrounge together a massive army of about 10,000 soldiers. but that is all flash and no substance. What could we possibly do with a bunch of riff raffs who have never been trained before?”

“You can just train them.”

“We lack in the generals necessary to carry out such training. Jeez.”

Wittenmyer nodded his head as he listened.

Schleiermacher was the supreme commander of the imperial guards and Wittenmyer himself was the chief of General Affairs. They were both soldiers. Charles Richthofen was also a soldier, but the royal knights were a special case. It wasn’t surprising that he would sympathize with Kurz Schleiermacher more……

Heidelberg scowled as he listened to what was happening within the army.

“As I thought, the defeat at Austerlitz had a great impact…….”

“There were capable generals and commanders within the Crown Prince’s Faction as well. Is that not so, Wittenmyer?”

Wittenmyer furrowed his brows. He was originally from the Crown Prince’s Faction. Schleiermacher was making that implication.

“Of course. General Kolovrate, General Kutuzov, General Kiermaier, and General Langeron……they were all extremely talented people. Pardon my rudeness, but if the Crown Prince had not led our troops so recklessly, then they would not have died so pointlessly.”

“And yet they died and only our chief of General Affairs survived.”

Wittenmyer’s frown deepened.

‘He is intentionally teasing me. He needs to fix this habit of his.’

This was the reason why he couldn’t get along with Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher would try to tease people whenever he got the opportunity to do so. This was why he couldn’t genuinely sympathize with him.

“I do not think that I survived because I was particularly more competent than them. The Goddess simply favored me more.”

“Therefore, it was all fate…….”

Kurz Schleiermacher chuckled.

“Everyone, I have some rather interesting news about Demon Lord Dantalian.”

“Dantalian? Are you talking about the person who gave that speech on Bruno Plains?”

Heidelberg tilted his head. He was a civil servant, so he didn’t partake in the war with the Crescent Alliance personally. It must have been because of this that the weight which the name Dantalian had was different for him.

It wasn’t like this for only Heidelberg. It was like this for every other civil servant. Barbatos, who had taken regency over Habsburg, was far more important than some Rank 71 Demon Lord who had given an impressive speech before one battle.

It was the complete opposite for soldiers.

Barbatos was definitely terrifying, but they could fight back. Consul Elizabeth, who at the time was the Third Imperial Princess, had gone to battle with Barbatos’ army several times during the war. The Imperial Princess won every single time. On the other hand, Dantalian……was the only one who managed to defeat the Imperial Princess.

“New information? What could that be, General Schleiermacher?”

Wittenmyer’s eyes glimmered. His eyes that would normally look tired were shimmering.

“Mm, this is about the battle at the Black Mountains.”

Schleiermacher drank his beer with a smile.

“As you know, the defenses at the Black Mountains fell in only 4 days. Do you know who was leading the Demon Lord army’s vanguard at the time?”

“According to the reports, I heard that it was Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar.”

“Correct, Chief Wittenmyer. However, what would you do if I were to say that there had been a different Demon Lord who had planned their strategy.”

Wittenmyer’s face became stiff.

“……Don’t tell me.”

“Yes, it was Dantalian. He was the one who got through the fortresses on the Black Mountains at an unprecedented speed. That’s not all.”

Kurz Schleiermacher continued. He sounded like he was having fun.

“The scouts finished their reconnaissance of the northern region of Habsburg the other day, but there was something rather interesting in their report. This is something that has not been told to Her Excellency the Consul. They say that the people of Brandenburg are unexpectedly living rather peaceful lives.”

“That is impossible!”

Heidelberg blurted out in surprise.

“Is Brandenburg not the first region that was captured at the beginning of the war? How could they have not received much harm from the Demon Lord army?”

“That is the interesting part. They had legislated a new law that forbade any pillaging of the people.”

“They forbade pillaging?”

It was Julia this time who spoke up. She got louder.

“The Demon Lord army didn’t pillage humans? Why not?”

“It was to increase the distance between the people and nobles. Think about it. At the beginning of the war, Margrave Rosenberg could only retreat without fighting even once. Why did he do this?”

“……Because of the mass desertion of conscripted soldiers.”

Wittenmyer answered.

“I heard that tens of thousands of conscripted soldiers ran away. I am aware that Margrave Rosenberg just barely had enough soldiers to reach 10,000…….”

“That is where Dantalian intervened.”

Schleiermacher smiled.

“He forbade pillaging and distributed black herbs for free. He even went as far as to subjugate nearby monster tribes……. It isn’t surprising that the public sentiment would transfer over from the Margrave to the Demon Lord army. Haha. In the end, Dantalian was also the reason why we had to withdraw from Austerlitz.”

Everyone became silent. Only Captain Charles was drinking his beer with a perfectly calm face. Julia nudged him with her elbow.

“Hm? What? Are we out of alcohol?”

Charles looked around urgently with a confused face. Julia let out a sigh. Charles eventually noticed the heavy mood as he carefully lowered his mug. He looked like a squirrel who was putting down its acorn.

Wittenmyer slowly opened his mouth.

“……The speech at Bruno Plains did a severe amount of damage on our side. It was a ploy to divide normal soldiers and the noble higher-ups. If Dantalian had been planning this since the beginning, then does that not mean the magnanimity that he showed to the people within the Margrave’s territory was also all a part of his plan?”

Schleiermacher nodded his head in silence.

Wittenmyer gulped.

“Then……from the breaching of the Black Mountains, the bloodless takeover of the Margrave’s territory, the battle of Austerlitz, the battle at Bruno Plains, and to the regency incident……this would mean that all of this was planned by a single Demon Lord. Furthermore, all of these plans were realized in full. This means a single Demon Lord manipulated the entire continent on his own. Is something like that possible?”

A curtain of silence fell over the bar again. It wasn’t fate that led to the empire’s demise. It was revealed that it was the deed of a single Demon Lord.

Heidelberg gulped down his words as he spoke.

“After hearing your information, it seems Her Excellency the Consul is enduring against quite the preposterous fellow……. Should we not start making countermeasures for this Demon Lord Dantalian?”

The others nodded.

However, how exactly they intended to make countermeasures was never brought up throughout the rest of the evening. Wittenmyer had no other choice but to acknowledge who the true enemy of the republic was…….

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Once again, more and more people are learning about Dantalian. Also, why’d Kurz Schleiermacher have to come back? Please, I still hate your name. Couldn’t you have taken a better person’s name? On another note, it’s still hot. It rained heavily yesterday, but the temperature didn’t change at all. So it was raining and hot. The absolute worst feeling. Hot rain.

May summer end soon. I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.