Fish goes to waste when being transported to the inland capitals, so only its extract is sent to preserve its taste.
It stinks, but itâs worth it.
Itâs a luxurious item that peasants will never get to know of.
Such is a nobleâs taste!
Youâre jealous that a king like me can have this every day, arenât you?
âYour Majesty, we have trouble!â
Whatâs the matter, servant?
Even if you make a fuss, I still wonât share my fish juice with you.
âI will never drink something so nasty even if I was ordered to! That aside, we have more pressing matters! We just received a message from the border!â
An urgent message?
âThe Demon Kingdom gathered its troops and is headed this way to invade us!!!â
WHAT?!
âŠWhy? Why?!
Why are they pressing forward when weâve been keeping still this whole time?!
There must be some kind of misunderstanding here. Are you sure they werenât just preparing for some festival?
âŠNo?
Everyone was armed?
I seeâŠ
What a pity.
We have no choice. Weâre intercepting them!
Dispatch our men at once!
âIâm afraid thatâs not possible. The generals are returning to their territories along with their troops as we speak.â
What?!
âCalling them back now would take some timeâŠâ
Why are they going home on their own accord?!
Despicable! No one should leave without asking permission from me first!
âWith all due respect, but it was Your Majesty who ordered to temporarily dissolve the army and to cease all plans invading the Demon Kingdom until Saint Kidan is found.â
Huh?
I did?
âYes, Your Majesty. It has been quite a while since they returned to their territories, thus they grabbed this opportunity to return at once. They said that there are a lot of matters that need to be dealt with in their respective territories, including appeasing their people. â
They actually said that?!
Tsk, what a bunch of goody-two-shoes.
ââŠIn other news, no information has come from the search party.â
I see.
If only we had Saint Kidan as one of my retainers, exterminating the entire demon race would be easy.
Tsk, everyone is so useless.
However, donât think the human race will lose here! For we, the superior race chosen by the god of the heavens, have been granted multiple layers of divine protection!
And one of them is a sacred thaumaturgical spell called âSacred Barrier!â
Let me explain!
Sacred Barrier a magical spell that creates a huge border enclosing the entire Human Kingdom by borrowing power from Zeus, the god who reigns the heavens!
With this barrier, we can enter and exit our borders as we wish, while the demons are sent flying away, unable to penetrate through!
Itâs because of this barrier that our kingdom has never been invaded by the demon race for the past thousand years!
Those fools wonât see whatâs coming their way!!!
âBut casting the spell will use up a lot of our natural mana, and thereâs a theory that has been floating around saying the land within the Human Kingdom is going chronically infertileâŠâ
Hush!
Thatâs no more than a mere theory!
Whatâs a small piece of infertile land to protecting the entire kingdom from the demonsâ threats?!
Anyway, those dimwits must have forgotten that theyâve had so many failed attempts of invasion because of the Sacred Barrier!
Fools never learn from history!
All right! Gather all the troops that you can!
Weâll deal a heavy blow on their army after theyâre thwarted by our barrier!!!
âYour Majesty.â
Yeah? What is it?
âThe Sacred Barrier has been shattered.â
âŠ
âŠHuh?
WHAAAAAAAAAT?!
Why?! How?!
Isnât the Sacred Barrier supposed to be invincible?!
âAccording to reports from the frontlines, there are two female generals leading their army. We have confirmed their identities to be two of the Four Heavenly KingsâAstres the Wild and Glasya the Malicious.â
Hm?
âWhen the aura from their swords came in contact with the Sacred Barrier, it immediately shattered into a million pieces!â
Say what?!
Contact the church and tell them to put up a new Sacred Barrier!
âWe have sent a messenger to inform them. But they said the Sacred Barrier is a large-scale magic that was invoked thousands of years ago and has been cast numerous times without encountering any obstacles. Its maintenance aside, the reactivation ritual for at has long been forgotten.â
I canât even rely on the church at a time like this!
They would always extort an outrageous donation from us, yet they canât even preserve the technique Zeus has given them?!
Unforgivable!
Once this is all over, Iâm calling all of them to court!
âYour Majesty, Iâm afraid that opportunity will never come.â
Ngh?!
âThe demon army has already reached the capital. We have no one stationed there, itâll be terribly difficult to last until the generals arrive.â
For a servant, you sure are handling this entire situation calmly.
So? What do you suggest we do?
âAccording to the demon messenger that arrived, the Demon King intends to dissolve our nation while our status as a race still remains.â
NghâŠ
âThey said that if we present the Your Majesty and everyone involved with the church, the safety of the civilians will be guaranteed. They swore by their god, Hades, that they will keep their word.â
If theyâre going to swear to someone, swear to Zeus instead.
âŠHowever, thereâs no longer any way around this.
I, king of the human race, will do the last thing I can.
If offering my life means saving my people, then Iâll gladly do it.
âYour Majesty! Acting cool during your last moments like thatâŠ!â
Donât waste your tears on me, servant.
Well then, let us go with dignity to the king who will slay me.