THE SOLUTION
Hm hm hmmm—
Jetoson, merchant of the Golden Moon Company, hummed as usual while brewing his coffee.
He savored the bitter yet fragrant aroma.
"Life really is worth living long."
Wasn't there a saying—life is like the whims of the old horse at the frontier?
Back when he ran a tiny magic shop in Acan, he once tricked a clueless-looking dwarf into buying defective goods at a high price.
It would have been fine if it ended there—but he got caught.
And unfortunately, that "clueless dwarf" had been a princess of Verft.
Naturally, all hell broke loose. He barely kept his life, but he was expelled from the merchants' guild.
But when you're desperate, paths appear—
And so he managed to get hired by the Golden Moon Company.
His current life was far better than before. Unlike the days of living hand-to-mouth, now massive bonuses poured in depending on his skills.
Still… what exactly is this company?
At first, they wandered the continent buying elf slaves.
After that ended, they began buying ores—copper, manganese, iron, orichalcum, mithril, mana stones.
He had no idea where the money came from; they bought endlessly. Far more spending than income.
And yet they didn't seem interested in selling any of it. Truly ironic.
Well, as long as I get paid.
His job was to haggle as ruthlessly as possible and drive down prices.
Part of the leftover profit became his bonus. Win-win.
Knock knock—
"Mr. Jetoson, your newspaper."
"Thanks."
"My pleasure."
A beautiful elf smiled with her eyes. The cheerful sweetness of it lifted the corners of his mouth.
She had been one of the slaves he purchased—but what could he do?
She was beautiful, kind-hearted, competent—and now, freed and a commoner.
Having some personal interest in her was only natural.
"Let's see…"
Jetoson cleared his throat and slowly unfolded the newspaper.
Reading the kingdom's daily morning paper was part of his routine.
"Hm?"
He frowned.
Normally the paper would be filled with scattered bits of news, but today everything focused on one story.
[Jespine Empire's Third Prince, Martin Jespine: "At last, we have found the Tower of the Flame…"]
[Prince Balaf Korzen of the Kingdom of Korzen: "It is an honor to uncover humanity's hidden threat…"]
[Jespine and Korzen: Enormous combined losses, but the tower finally discovered…]
[Tower of Flame—The location described by the prince and the king's son is…]
[The long-mysterious Tower of Flame was not at the summit?]
[Great Hero Daphner Philian—where is he? Behind the light of success lies…]
[The search party that found the tower at the risk of their lives—at the center was Daphner Philian…]
No matter how many pages he turned, the same topic dominated.
[Watton Collo and his strike squad, the Golden Shield—rescued the Third Prince of Gaina.
Will the Tower of Diamond follow the northern frost? Where had the Third Prince been…]
[The Lust Demon King of the Pirate Isles—signs of collusion with pirates?]
This was the most material he could find aside from the main story.
"The world must be ending. Those crazy pirate bastards go too far, but even they wouldn't team up with a Demon King… would they?"
Tsk. He clicked his tongue and turned his thoughts back to the Demon King of Flame.
"…The Tower of Flame, huh."
Some time ago, the Empire had made a big show of "searching for the Tower of Flame."
They'd announced an alliance with the northern nations to find it.
Korzen's side drew even more attention after the Empire's Third Prince, Hillen Cargill, and Daphner Philian joined.
The whole continent had been abuzz. Jetoson had been interested too—
So he could sell supplies.
Though he eventually gave up when he learned imperial and sovereign merchants were mobilizing.
"But they actually succeeded?"
He'd hoped it might be possible, but had always expected failure—for there were two previous failed attempts to find the Tower of Flame.
But now that precedent had been overturned.
"That Demon King—whoever he is—he's finished."
The Empire had been grinding its teeth.
If he wanted to hide, he should've hidden to the end.
"Well, nothing to do with me."
Even if he wanted to sell supplies, the Empire never allowed foreign merchant guilds near hero expeditions.
Jetoson shrugged.
"This Demon King made a big fuss at first, and now he'll just disappear."
He turned the page.
"Oh, damn it. Nothing useful."
It was about the Tower of Flame and Daphner Philian from start to finish.
Annoyed, he crumpled the paper and tossed it into the trash.
***
"…What kind of nonsense is this?"
Berze let out a faint laugh.
Since his regression—and since descending into Arein—this was the first time he'd unleashed everything.
He had forced out enormous destructive force, even pushing past the limits that interference normally prevented.
And the backlash struck him just as severely.
He had fainted.
Just before losing consciousness, he entrusted Ernan with everything.
He begged her to kill Daphner Philian without fail.
When he awoke, she said she had fulfilled that request. She said Daphner Philian was dead.
So he had felt relieved.
But then—why—
"Why am I hearing this bullshit about the tower's location being exposed?"
『…It couldn't be helped.』
『Before you killed Daphner Philian, he had already handed a record orb containing the tower's location to the prince of Korzen. His retainers all verified it.』
『In that situation, we couldn't bury them… nor could we kill them all, right?』
It was the obvious truth.
If they touched even one of them, they would have to slaughter the entire Kingdom of Korzen. Even if they could, imagine the world's reaction if only the imperial forces returned alive afterward.
But obvious or not—the one being punished for that "obvious" reality felt differently.
He had worked so hard to hide the tower.
He had put in so much effort.
Berze called Ernan.
"You said you handled it perfectly."
"…I thought I had."
After burying the Demon King under the snow, she strengthened the steam with magic. Then she found Daphner Philian.
There had been people nearby while he wandered the fog—but she ensured none reached him.
Until she brought Hillen Cargill, she made Daphner wander alone dozens of times.
So she thought it was perfect.
But he had apparently already recorded the tower's location and passed it to the Korzen prince before she even intervened—
In that tiny window of time between burying Berze and setting things into motion.
"…I'm sorry."
"…No, it's fine. You did your best."
Rage bubbled inside him.
But even more than that—worry.
What do I do now?
The Empire would come.
Not just the Empire—Hilderan had been sharpening its sword for years.
He saw the terrifying image of thousands of hero-expedition elites attacking the tower.
Balaf Dislord, Rozel Charnt, Ralph Schmitz, Gillian Aint—
Stars at the front line, charging the tower.
"Fire!"
"Wipe them all out! Khehehehehe!"
The dwarf's shout echoed in his mind like a hallucination. Hundreds of mana cannons spewed fire.
But Ralph Schmitz's shield was immovable. Balaf Dislord's sword shattered everything.
The hero expedition would suffer casualties from the surprise attack—but they would never be annihilated by mere mana cannons.
Mana cannons were made to destroy many weak foes, not a handful of strong ones.
"Behold the mighty golem forged of pure orichalcum!"
Then the golem would appear—and be smashed yet again.
The result was obvious: defeat.
The heroes who cleared the first layer would ascend to the second.
The chimera army crafted by Lavinia Acan would greet them.
"Princess?"
"Huh?"
"What are you doing right now!?"
"…Crafting?"
'My god… you're helping the Demon King.'
'A deal.'
'A deal my ass, right now—haah…'
He could vividly imagine the conversation between the clueless Lavinia and Rozel Charnt.
The heroes would rage at the princess aiding the Demon King, but Rozel Charnt's defense—and her status as a princess of Acan—would barely spare her life.
Then they would move on to the 3rd floor.
The 3rd floor would be empty. Leaving Elena or Kaede alone there would be pointless—fighting alongside the elves on the 4th floor gave them a slightly higher chance.
And on the 4th floor—
'Welcome to the Demon King's Tower, everyone.
I am one of the Four Great Demons who serve the Demon King—
the Dark Spirit Sorcerer.'
The princess of Hilderan would surely keep her smile, even in such a crisis.
'…I am the knight who serves the Demon King, the Dark Knight.'
At Ernan's prompting, Kaede would pretend to be one of the Four Great Demons as well.
Since she had sworn loyalty, she would fight earnestly.
Elena, grateful to Berze, would also give her all.
But the power difference was overwhelming.
In the end, they would lose—and the princesses would be captured by the heroes and returned to their respective homelands.
'…Princess? My god…'
'…Right now, I am the Dark Spirit Sorcerer.'
'Why are you helping the Demon King!?'
'Everyone has their own circumstances.'
And their "incident" would be quietly buried—for the honor of their kingdoms.
Berze wondered whether, in that scenario, he should be on the 4th floor or waiting at the top.
But it didn't matter.
Either way, he could not envision a victory.
The tower he designed was unfinished. Its power came from unexpected variables that humans couldn't predict—
but against overwhelming force, such tricks meant nothing.
'...…'
His mind went blank.
No proper solution came to him.
…Lord.
…My Demon King.
"…My lord, are you all right?"
Ah.
Ernan's voice snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts.
"…What did he say?"
The communication was still open; Martin was waiting.
『Since I am now in the same boat as you, I will delay the Jespine Empire's hero expedition as long as possible.』
『Can you stop Hilderan in the meantime?』
Indeed—it was far easier to deal with Jespine and Hilderan separately rather than together.
"Is there a way?"
『The only immediate method I see is causing injuries… but with some thought, we may find more.』
Even if they found the tower, the hero expedition wouldn't mobilize instantly.
They could delay preparations and impose restrictions.
"Then I leave it to you."
The link closed.
Berze summoned everyone in the tower to the 5th floor.
"What should we do?"
"I'll blast them all with mana cannons!" the pyromaniac-style artillery dwarf answered as usual.
"If the 3rd Prince handles the Jespine forces, we only need to stop Hilderan," Ernan said.
"Right."
Jespine could be dealt with later.
Hilderan came first.
"As Hilderan's crown princess, how do you think your kingdom will act?"
"They'll use everything they have."
Hilderan had suffered a massive blow to its pride.
Their crown princess had been kidnapped—even after sending a hero expedition, they failed.
While they were stewing in that humiliation, their 13th princess had also been kidnapped.
The king of Hilderan had not forgotten that shame.
And more than anything—
"My father will do anything to rescue me."
His obsession with Ernan had never faded.
No matter what cost, no matter what sacrifice—he would attempt to retrieve her.
"So more than Hillen Cargill's expedition?"
"Yes. After a failure, they will be even more determined."
Fortunately, one of Hilderan's strongest cards was Hillen Cargill.
"What if Hillen Cargill betrays them halfway through?"
Hillen Cargill was guaranteed to be a core figure in the Hilderan expedition.
If he deliberately led them into a trap and wiped them out—
"That method is no good."
Gordon objected.
"Hillen Cargill is crucial to your plan, my lord. Until now, their relationship has barely avoided suspicion, but if everyone except Hillen dies, suspicion is inevitable."
Only one survivor?
No matter how strong Hillen Cargill was, that would be too suspicious.
And letting multiple survive greatly increased the chance his betrayal would be discovered.
Of course, protecting the tower was more important than protecting Hillen, but…
"Even if we fend off one or two expeditions, they won't stop. They'll keep coming."
"…True."
In the end, the hero expeditions had two objectives:
rescue the kidnapped royalty and kill the Demon King.
Prioritizing them—
the former was far more important. Especially for Hilderan, whose crown princess had been taken.
Wait…
Berze tilted his head.
"…Shouldn't we resolve the core reason Hilderan is trying to find the tower?"
"The core reason?"
"Yes. If we remove the reason they seek the tower, Hilderan won't need to risk everything anymore."
Wouldn't they naturally withdraw?
"But the core reason is…"
Ernan's face hardened, as if she finally understood.
"Yes."
"…No. That's not it, right?"
"It is."
Berze drove the nail in.
"Hilderan Kingdom's crown princess, Ernan Hilderan—
It's time for you to return home."
"…You're…"
Ernan's pupils trembled.
"You're sending me…
back to the kingdom?"
Her voice turned cold.
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