The continent of Fillades was west of Japan. In the northeast of Fillades was a large island about as large as Shikoku. There was a natural bridge that was only 200 meters wide but 30 kilometers long that connected the island to the continent. The country that called this island home was none other than the Topa Kingdom. To the northeast of Topa was another bridge, this one 100 meters wide and 40 kilometers long, that joined them with the continent of Grameus.
Grameus was populated with creatures called demons. There were no settlements of humans or demi-humans there. No one could communicate with demons, and they attacked all the human races on sight. Demons did not have any kind of civilization, they simply used their superior physical abilities to hunt people in a berserk rampage. For Japanese people, if they were to describe demons in a single word, that word would be âpests.â
In the northeastern region of Topa, there was a castle town called Tormis that stood between the Topa Kingdom and the demons of Grameus. Its walls blocked off the natural bridge and were known as the Doors to the World. They had repelled countless demon invasions. Topan soldiers were permanently stationed at the Doors to the World, and the castle town Tormis was founded to support those soldiers.
The citizens of Topa were very proud that their country guarded the world from demon invasions. From what the superpowers and the civilized areas have said, the suppression of demons allows them to maintain order and focus on developing their countries. Without the people of Topa, humanity wouldnât be as prosperous.
One quiet morning, Gai, a sellsword, was looking over at Grameus from on top of the Doors to the World.
âNnngaaah⌠so sleepy. I wanna lie downâŚâ Gai yawned dispiritedly.
âCome now, the task of monitoring Grameus is imperative for the survival of both humans and demihumans,â his childhood friend, the knight Moah, warned him.
âYou always say that, butâŚâ Gai looked down at the wall. âThe Doors to the World are twenty meters tall. In the last ten years, the worst attack weâve had was when ten goblins got lost! We picked up our bows, bing bang boom, oh, theyâre already dead. Until there are over a hundred goblins, there ainât nothing to be scared of anyway. Even if I take a nap, itâs all the same, right?â
ââŚIf you look back a hundred years, orcs and goblin lords have also attacked the wall. They are problematic foes,â the elvish knight rebutted.
Gai was silent for a moment. âI guess youâre right. Orcs are so strong youâd need ten knights working together to defeat it. But anyway, elves are way too serious, counting time in centuries⌠good grief.â
The sellsword Gai hung his head. This was his daily life. From north of the wall all the way to Grameus, there was short grass, so there was a lot of visibility. In this season, the grass was a deep green, so the entire northern part of the continent was filled with fields of emerald. Birds sang and butterflies danced. Nothing else would happen today, and theyâd soon be relieved of their duties.
Right as Moah and Gai each thought thisâŚ
VOOOOOOO⌠VOOOOOOOâŚâŚ
They heard something⌠something repulsive.
âWhat was that?!â
âHuh?! The ground over there⌠itâs turning black!â Moah yelled as he looked through a telescope towards Grameus. âThose⌠those are goblins!!! The ground is completely covered in them, and theyâre headed this way!!! Ahh! Orcs! There are orcs too! There are⌠there are over a hundred enemies!!!â
Behind the swarm, they could make out the silhouettes of two giant demons even bigger than orcs.
âWh⌠what?! It couldnât be⌠those are the Red Ogre and the Blue Ogre!!! Why are those legendary beasts here?!â
Behind those two ogres, there was a red land dragon that was about three times larger than the Papaldia Empireâs land dragons. On top of that dragon sat an ogre-sized beast. Moah had once read some ancient records in the archives, and he was now reminded of the contents of that record.
âTh⌠th⌠th⌠thatâs the Scarlet Dragon, and the Demon Lord Nosgoorah!!!â
âRunneeeeeeeeeer!!!â
They ordered the runner to deliver an urgent message to Tormis, south of the Doors.
VOOOOOOO VUWOOOOOOOâŚ
With the land completely covered in demons, the swarm got closer and closer to the wall. For the time being, the 150 soldiers on watch on the wall had to keep them at bay. The leader of this force, the knight captain, yelled out orders.
âMoah! Youâre an expert on demons! Get to Tormis and tell them what you saw!!!â
âB-But⌠I should helpââ
âQuiet! This is an emergency!!! Everything needs to be described accurately! If any information is wrong, the whole country, or worse, all life on Fillades could be at risk!!! This is a direct order. Take your mercenary friend, too!â
Moah and Gai mounted their horses and galloped off to Tormis.
Topa Kingdom, Castle Town Tormis
By the time the knight Moah and the sellsword Gai reached Tormis, the leaders had already received the magical communication and called a council of war. As soon as Moah and Gai arrived, they met the northern garrison commander and quickly threw out salutes.
âWhatâs the situation?!â
âSir! As stated in the communications, there are so many demons invading from Grameus that we couldnât even see the ground!!! There are twenty thousand goblins, two thousands goblin lords, two hundred ogres, and, based on descriptions I had read in the royal archives about legendary beasts, I also confirmed the Red Ogre and the Blue Ogre, as well as the Demon Lord Nosgoorah riding a red dragon!!!â
Everyone was speechless⌠They simply couldnât have ever imagined an attack like this.
âWe donât even have five thousand soldiers in the northern defense regiment! Runner!!!â
âYes sir!â
âGet in touch with the king! The Demon Lord Nosgoorah has revived! We need all military forces to be sent here!!!â
âUnderstood!â
As soon as that runner left, another runner arrived.
âWhat is it?!â the commander asked.
âTheyâve breached the Doors to the World⌠the watch force has been wiped outâŚâ
Legends of the Topa Kingdom, Book 5, Chapter 4: The Descent of the Demon Lord
Once upon a time, a demon lord suddenly came out of nowhere. Its name was Nosgoorah. It came from Grameus, the land of demons, leading a great army and wielding many types of magic. With it were beasts of legend, the Red and Blue Ogres, the White and Yellow Ogres, and an army comprised of various other beasts of lower intelligence. They had come to invade Topa.
The island of Topa, which was just a small village back then, quickly fell, and the Demon Lordâs army next surged into Fillades. There were no countries in Fillades back then either, and humanity as a whole was weak. Most of Fillades fell into the Demon Lordâs control. His army had terrifying magic at its disposal. They were a blight on the land. They even used seaborne demonic beasts to cross the ocean to Rodenius to fight the elves. The coalition of races struggled in vain, and the Demon Lordâs army invaded the elvesâ final bastion, the Sacred Forest, the sanctuary of the elven god. Many valiant warriors were crushed, and the elvesâ most talented mages fell in battle.
The elven god, the God of Green, prayed to the God of the Sun, creator of the lower gods. The God of the Sun answered those prayers by sending down the emissaries of the sun. The emissaries rode the divine flying ships and cast fearsome sorcery that summoned thunderous lightning that set the ground ablaze, driving off the Demon Lordâs army. The coalition of races then forced the Demon Lordâs army off Rodenius, eventually gong to Fillades themselves. The emissaries of the sun used their powerful magic to push the demons out of Fillades and what is now the Topa Kingdom, all the way back to Grameus.
After the threat was neutralized, the God of the Sun called the emissaries back from this world. The coalition of races then built the wall called the Doors to the World and created both a castle town and a new kingdom. That kingdom would later become the Topa Kingdom.
One year after the Demon Lordâs invasion, the remainder of the coalition of races formed a subjugation unit. This unit would later be known as the âheroes of legend,â and it consisted of four heroes:
The human sword master Ta RohThe dwarven fighter KiegeThe supreme elven magus RusaThe beastman military specialist Kenshiva
The heroes journeyed into Grameus and vanquished the White Ogre and the Yellow Ogre. They then challenged the Demon Lord Nosgoorah, but it was too powerful. After betting their lives, the four heroes managed to seal the Demon Lord. The magical barrier required the sacrifice of three of the heroes, and the only survivor, the beastman Kenshiva, returned to tell this story.
The power of the barrier would slowly decay over time.
As the years passed, the story simply turned into an old legend where no one was sure which parts were true and which were fantasy.
Topa Kingdom, royal capital Berngen
The countryâs chief advisors held a somber meeting in the presence of King Topa the 16th. Tormisâs 5,000 elite soldiers were currently fending off the sudden attack of the Demon Lordâs 20,000-strong army. 15,000 more soldiers had already departed from Berngen and were now on their way to reinforce Tormis.
âWhy would the Demon Lordâs army all of a sudden revive nowâŚ? For that matter, is it really the Demon Lordâs army? How can they tell?â the king asked.
A professor from the royal college answered. âIn the legends⌠According to the legends, the Demon Lord was sealed in a barrier created by sacrificing the lives of three of the four heroes. That very same barrier grew weaker every year. The Demon Lord would revive once the barrier failed, I believe. However, since they have such a large army, I donât believe it only just revived, but rather that it has been revived for some time and only attacked once its preparations were complete.
âRegarding the identification, as Your Majesty knows, the beastman hero Kenshiva used magic to capture the likeness of the Demon King in a lithograph. This technique is now lost to us, but he also used space-time magic to preserve it. Many historians and other people in the kingdom have seen this magic lithograph. I have also seen it, and this time⌠the person to report this information, the knight Moah, I know has spent time in the archives before. Furthermore, because he also recognized the Red and Blue Ogres, we can only conclude that this is indeed the Demon Lordâs army.â
The foreign affairs minister stepped forward.
âWhatever it may be, tens of thousands of demons are invading our country. If we were to fall, then, just like in the legends, the demons will spill out into Fillades. This is an emergency situation. My king! Should we communicate this information to other countries and request aid?â
âYes, convey the demonsâ movements in real time. If we fall while reinforcements are en route, then real-time information will be paramount.â
The knight commander interjected. âYour Majesty, with all due respect, I do not believe we need to ask for reinforcements.â
âIs that so⌠and why is that?â
âFirst, in the era of the legend, there were no established countries at all. Compared to back then, dwarven technology is far more advanced, and weapons are far stronger as well. The elvesâ magic research too, even though many spells have been lost, the ones in use today are far more powerful. Humankind has also developed advanced tactics and war strategy; compared to the past, the very meaning of the word âstrengthâ is incomparable. The ones that concern me are the Demon Lord and the Red and Blue Ogres, but the orcs and goblins and such can probably be easily handled with just our countryâs forces alone, in my opinion. For the Demon Lord and the ogres, I am confident that the Royal Combat Mage Special Task Force can deal with them.â
âI seeâŚâ
The king fell into thought.
âIn that case, simply inform the other countries of the situation. The problem is the Demon Lord and its guards⌠Japan is quite reluctant to send its forces, arenât they⌠I am loath to send this request, but⌠minister, what do you think of asking the Papaldia Empire to send even a just a platoon of reinforcements? Their portable magic cannons would be welcome assurance in our knightsâ efforts to take down the Demon Lord.â
âYes sir!!!â
The meeting continued late into the night.
Demon Lordâs army, headquarters
In the darkness, torches burned steadily, illuminating the forms of three demonic beasts. The one in the middle, its black body a mass of bulging muscles and its hair think like wire, was playing with a knife. It had a black spiral horn, and it was emitting mana on a level that completely elevated it above any other species.
âIn the time I was sealed, humans have certainly increased in number⌠Well, human meat is tasty, so it is nice to find food so easily,â it commented while chewing on meat. Scattered all around it were the bones of humans that had been eaten.
âMaster, where will the army go next?â asked Red Ogre.
âLast time, we went south over the sea, and, in the sacred forest, the sun godâs pets were summoned⌠This time, we stop after taking the big land south of hereâŚâ
âThey are strong, though. We had twenty thousand goblins, but two thousand have already been lost while we only caught three hundred humans.â
âAhh, much time has passed since before. Even waste can learn a little bit. Itâs fine, weâve only lost one orc. Anyway, our creators, the mages, will soon return. We must clean up the waste that thinks this world is theirs. Our mission is to help even just a little, so that the mages can quickly resume their rule. The magesâ country⌠when the sorcerous empire returns, they will easily conquer the world. The humans and demihumans have made their own countries, mimicking the mages, but waste cannot compete with them. The time is near. Before then, we must conquer as much as possible!â
âRaaahhh!!!â
Red Ogre hesitantly posed a question. âBy the way, Master, there is one thing bothers me a littleâŚâ It looked somewhat bewildered.
âWhat.â
âLast time, we lost to the sun godâs pets, the messengers. They were strong. Their divine boats were very fast, making shrill noises as they flew through the air; their iron land dragons fired powerful explosive magic from their horns; their colossal magic ships were over two hundred and fifty meters long. The Demon Lordâs army, which easily stomped over the coalition of races, could not even lift a finger against them. The fear that their tremendous explosive magic wrought still clings to my soul. I do not know the power of the old sorcerous empire. Master, was the empire even more powerful than the sun godâs messengers?â
Demon Lord Nosgoorah began to laugh. âHah hah hah, so thatâs what it was. Even the dreaded sun godâs pets cannot but tremble before the might of the mages. Those divine flying ships would fall like leaves before the empireâs anti-air magic ships. The imperial armyâs sky ships can fly faster than sound! The divine flying ships could only travel half that fast. The messengersâ giant ship would simply crumble from a shower of the imperial armyâs exploding bullets of light. Suffice to say that the magesâ strength is absolute. No one can defeat the mages. Worry not.â
âYes sir!!!â
The Demon Lord armyâs respite extended into the night.
Papaldia Empire, imperial capital Esthirant, 3rd foreign affairs department
The Topan ambassador was currently at the 3rd foreign affairs department requesting reinforcements.
âAs previously explained, the legendary Demon Lord from our myths has revived. Our knights are engaged at full strength; if the Demon Lord is truly as strong as the legends say, then we fear we will be unable to defeat it. We believe that your portable magic cannons will be effective against it. If you could dispatch a small platoon of themâŚâ
âThat is impossible,â the 3rd foreign affairs representative answered immediately.
âWh⌠Can you not at least consider it? If my country falls, the entire continent of Fillades will be at the mercy of the Demon Lordâs army.â
âThe empire is currently a bit occupied⌠I am unable to say why, but suffice to say that we are busy. Even if it is only a small platoon, there is no reason for us to dispatch our army to aid other countries. This is not to single out your country, the policy applies for all countries. Besides⌠if a demon that made a name for itself before there were even countries in Fillades tries to throw its weight around now in the modern era, it will quickly learn its place. If they do end up invading Fillades, the empire will simply eradicate them then.â
âHow heartless!!!â
The Topan ambassador was unable to secure reinforcements from the Papaldia Empire.
Japan, capital city Tokyo
The Topan ambassador was worried. A directive from the homeland had come to ask Japan to send reinforcements to subjugate the Demon Lord. Apparently, the Papaldia Empire had refused to provide aid.
âHaah⌠Ignorance is bliss for themâŚâ
Japan was strangely ornery when it came to deploying troops unless it was in their own defense. He had already reported this to his superiors⌠he wondered how he should approach thisâŚ
There was a knock on the door. Apparently the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was ready to receive him.
ââŚand all of our knights have been sent to Tormis to fight the Demon Lord, a legendary demonic beast who can control other demons, the enemy of all life, and its army. Our knights can handle the smaller demons such as goblins and the like, but, if the Demon Lordâs magical capabilities are as powerful as rumored, our knight order will undoubtedly face considerable losses. Would it be possible for the JSDF to send a small platoon of reinforcements to help us defeat the Demon Lord, the Red Ogre, and the Blue Ogre?â
The Japanese official thought for a bit. âThis âDemon Lordâ is an intelligent being, correct? Currently, there is a large debate in Japan over the scope of human rights. If intelligent life is indiscriminately erased, it could affect national sentiment and relations with other countriesâŚâ
âBut⌠the Demon Lord, Red Ogre, and Blue Ogre primarily subsist on humanoids⌠in other words, they eat people. Is there still value in protecting their rights?â
âHmm⌠because this matter involves multiple government agencies, I will arrange a meeting to discuss your request at once.â
Some days later, the Japanese government decided to send the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force on an international aid mission to suppress destructive wildlife.
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