Tsuyokute New Saga (LN) - Book 5: Chapter 9

Book 5: Chapter 9

To the lucky 100 of you still reading this, New Saga made a monumental return with an anime adaptation like 4 years after the LN ended. There’s a trailer, which you can watch here. Also, they uploaded character designs, and…Well, let’s just say they aren’t exactly the best.

But that doesn’t change that the source material is good, so let’s just forget about the anime, mkay? PS: I know uploads are slow, but I’m busy IRL. I’m gonna finish this LN no matter how long it may take (unless it gets licensed), so don’t worry.

When Kyle was told by Yuriga that Thunder-Breath had been found dead, he envisioned the path ahead of him and his group, and once again held his head in disbelief.

“What a horrible way to wake up…”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Yuriga showed a dry expression, wondering how things ended up this way.

“Just out of curiosity…any chances of a natural death?” Seran remembered the incident of the previous night and reluctantly asked, but luckily Yuriga seemingly wasn’t told about it and answered normally.

“His body is riddled with wounds. He was evidently attacked and killed by someone.” Yuriga bluntly denied any kind of hope Kyle still held, leaving him flabbergasted. “Why did it have to happen now…”

Personally, Yuriga was more than happy that Thunder-Breath was out of the picture, knowing how rebellious he was towards Luiza’s orders. However, the bigger problem was that Kyle’s group was here.

“So, how was he killed?”

“A servant found his corpse at the front gate of the castle at the end of the night. Since there were no signs of a fight at that location, he most likely had been killed elsewhere and then delivered right to our doorstep.”

“Clearly an act to stand out…Well, the bigger question is who did it.” Kyle started thinking, but he had no way of coming up with an answer.

“So…Luiza-sama wishes to meet you. I would appreciate it if you could follow me.”

“I really want to go back home now…”

Even so, they had to go no matter what, so they headed to the same audience room as the day prior. Before opening the door, Yuriga turned around one more time, exclaiming the following with a severe expression.

“I have a request. Please…don’t say anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s for your sake. Nothing bad will happen, so…please have faith in me.” Yuriga pressed this, and opened the door.

Luiza, Flame-Eye, and Three-Arms were already present. However, what stood out the most was Thunder-Breath’s corpse laying on the floor in front of them. His entire body was riddled with wounds, half of his head blown to pieces, his tongue hanging down from his mouth, and several of his fangs were broken. Seran was conscious of Luiza because of the previous evening, but she seemed calm despite that, making it seem like she presumably didn’t even remember what happened.

“So you’re here…As you can see, Thunder-Breath died. He was killed. Of course, that happened because he was weak, but as he is my aide, and since it happened without my knowledge, I won’t accept this, and will not ignore this.”

“First, let’s ask about the motive.”

Right after the Demon Lord exclaimed, Flame-Eye approached Kyle’s group, when Yuriga stepped in front of them as a cover.

“Flame-Eye, what are you doing?”

“I would assume that the ones who killed Thunder-Breath are those humans over there, no?” Flame-Eye proclaimed with a calm and collected tone, like it was the obvious conclusion to reach.

She had expected things to turn out this way.

“That’s…!” Lieze tried to defend herself, but Kyle quickly covered her mouth from behind.

“…If things were reversed, and a human were to be killed with demons present at the scene, I would immediately doubt them as well.” Kyle whispered into her ear, which helped in calming her down.

Following that, he remembered Yuriga’s previous words, and stepped down, leaving the place to her.

“…Do you have any proof that they killed Thunder-Breath?” Luiza asked, but Flame-Eye shook her head.

“I certainly do not…however, isn’t this rather suspicious? I wouldn’t be saying this if they were just your average humanfolk. However, they are strong enough to receive an audience by our great Demon Lord-sama, and I believe it to be very much possible that they have defeated Thunder-Breath. Not to mention…” Flame-Eye looked at Seran with a profound gaze. “Last night, I heard this human was walking around the castle all alone.”

Seran looked at Flame-Eye in shock, wondering how she could even know that, but the Demon Lord herself was aware of this, so there was no way he could deny it. What was even worse were the piercing gazes by his friends that showered him.

“It didn’t look to me that they had any intent on fighting us, though,” Luiza commented.

“A fight doesn’t require the consent of both parties. More than anything, we all know how much Thunder-Breath despised humanfolk, and if he actually was beaten after challenging them first, that would make him a major fool.” Flame-Eye let out insulting words that the deceased Thunder-Breath would never get to hear. “Additionally, the suspects for this murder are very much limited. Currently present here are just Three-Arms and me, those humans, and the Demon Lord-sama.”

“Hey now, you’re making it sound like we are…suspects, or whatever you call them. And speaking in terms of possessing enough strength to do this, there are at least two more individuals, no?” Three-Arms explained while sounding excited, and Flame-Eye remembered.

“Now that you mention it, the dragons may very well be able to do this…However, Thunder-Breath should have no reason to fight them. The ones we should doubt are those humanfolk members.”

“I get where you’re coming from. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if those guys killed Thunder-Breath…for obvious reasons.” Three-Arms showed a violent smile, glancing at Kyle and Seran.

An eerie atmosphere filled the room, when Luiza got up from her throne. She slammed her staff onto the ground, silencing all participants.

“Leave this to me. I will give a proper conclusion…that should be fine, right?”

She told Three-Arms and Flame-Eye, urging them to not do anything unnecessary.

“…If you wish, Demon Lord-sama, I have nothing more to say.” Flame-Eye showed a deep bow, whereas Three-Arms faintly nodded.

“All of you return to your rooms. You are to stay there until I have found my verdict.” Luiza left these words behind, and left the audience room.

Upon returning to their room, Kyle’s group sighed in unison. Even Klaus and Minagi were there, most likely called over.

“Not exactly what I was hoping would happen…”

Klaus received a brief explanation of what had happened, showing an expression like he was biting on an insect.

“Nothing good ever comes from being with Kyle…” Minagi grumbled in disbelief.

“I didn’t hope for this to happen…So, how were things on your end?”

Kyle had Minagi act separately in hopes of letting her find out anything in regards to the demons. Obviously, he didn’t expect much, and ordered her to retreat at any sight of danger. As anticipated, Minagi shook her head.

“I barely looked into them. Rather than the demons, Klaus and his employees’ eyes were a lot sharper.”

As Klaus was a supporter of Luiza, he couldn’t afford to spot Minagi while she was working.

“I see…”

“I don’t know how many people there were, but somebody was watching over me. It was probably a demon.” Minagi deduced.

“I know fully well that you aren’t the perpetrators in this case. However, Luiza-sama is also troubled by this. She invited you here, so Flame-Eye will use this as material to pressure her, which I fear will have an influence on our relationship with humanfolk…” Yuriga declared with a troubled expression.

“In other words…we were set up?” Seran sighed, and Kyle agreed.

“Big chance, yeah…Or maybe somebody gained from Thunder-Breath’s death, and we were just wrapped up in it…either way, this isn’t what I was hoping for at all.”

“In that case, we’re right in this. We should probably expect the worst case and be ready to move. The problem is the true criminal of the situation…I’d love to give him a few words.” Seran scratched his head, emitting clear hostility to the unknown mastermind.

“About that Thunder-Breath, actually. I didn’t get to inspect him that closely, but from what I could see, he received quite the amount of injuries and wounds after his death. Almost as if to cover up the identity of the killer…” Shildonia commented on her own observations, which raised even more questions.

“…I guess the number one suspect is Flame-Eye after all. She would gain a lot from Thunder-Breath’s death. His entire faction would basically come and support her.” Yuriga grumbled. “However, she most likely has no intentions of defeating Luiza-sama to become the next Demon Lord. That leaves…Three-Arms, yes. Then again, those are the only two that might be able to actually kill Thunder-Breath.”

“Three-Arms, huh…He said something like that last night.”

Kyle remembered how Three-Arms mentioned he wished for something to happen. However, he couldn’t confidently say that Three-Arms would go so far as to kill Thunder-Breath for that. And he couldn’t say so in front of Yuriga, but there was another strong and influential contender.

“Hey, what will happen in the worst case scenario?” Lieze asked Yuriga, who answered with a blank expression.

“Flame-Eye will accuse you as the ones who killed Thunder-Breath in front of Luiza-sama. This will force her to question you, and if you don’t admit to it, she will ask you to provide proof that you’re innocent. If you can’t provide any, or fail at doing so, you will be regarded as guilty. If you attempt to run, you will turn all of us into your enemies, and I will be forced to attack you, as I can’t go against Luiza-sama.”

“Basically, we’ll be targeted 24/7 by demons.”

Realizing what Yuriga’s explanation boiled down to, Kyle felt his head hurting once more. At the same time, Yuriga spoke up with conviction.

“There is one way to get you out of this situation…You admit that you’ve killed Thunder-Breath, and you make Luiza-sama forgive you.”

“Are you telling us to accept the blame for something we haven’t done?” Seran clearly didn’t enjoy the sound of that.

“…That’s right. But for that, we need to make this Klaus as your helper. Luiza-sama would be in pain if she had to break her relationship with him.” Yuriga said.

“So that’s why you told us to stay quiet just now…But then the true killer of Thunder-Breath would still roam free, right?”

“That isn’t the problem. Thunder-Breath is at fault for being too weak, and I bet it was either Three-Arms or Flame-Eye.” Yuriga calmly answered Kyle’s question.

In that regard, the thought process between demons and humans was far too different. The motive behind the killing didn’t matter much.

“There’s a lot of things you’d like to say, but…this will save you with certainty. So…please.” Yuriga lowered her head, as silence filled the room.

Whatever the circumstances may be, Kyle didn’t expect a demon like her to act this dependant, and as they had traveled together for quite some time, Kyle and his group understood that Yuriga wasn’t just saying this as a farce.

“…I’d like to ask one thing. Is there any chance that the Demon Lord could’ve done this whilst not informing you?” Angela bluntly asked what Kyle had been hesitant about.

A bit of anger flashed across Yuriga’s face, but she just sighed and denied that.

“No, there isn’t anything to gain from that. In the event that Luiza-sama has truly killed Thunder-Breath, she also would have no reason to keep it a secret. He had always shown rebellious tendencies, so nobody would object to her decision.” Yuriga said, but Angela, Kyle, and Seran all mentally put their veto.

If Kyle and his friends were forced into becoming the Demon Lord’s subordinates, then she would ultimately receive the Holy Sword Rand after Seran’s death. Yuriga didn’t seem to doubt her boss for one second, but this development was far too convenient for Luiza.

“By the way, you said we have to prove our innocence, but how would we go about doing that?”

“That’s…rather simple, but equally impossible.”

Right as Kyle wanted to ask just what got Yuriga so hesitant, someone knocked on the door and the maid entered the room. It seemed as if Luiza called for Yuriga, who quickly left the room.

“…So, what do we do? Admit that it was our doing?” Urza asked, which resulted in Kyle crossing his arms.

“If need be, then we might have to resort to that, but it also doesn’t matter if we committed something and won’t admit it. The problem is that this might be a trap in getting us to admit to killing Thunder-Breath.”

Yuriga didn’t particularly care who the criminal was, but Kyle and his friends couldn’t ignore that.

“You’re so noisy, what are you guys up to?”

“Did something happen?”

Right there, Ghrud woke up from his sleep and scratched his head as he walked over. Behind him was Irumera, who apparently hadn’t heard the details of what was going on. Kyle gave a brief explanation, which had the two shocked.

“So that demon was…”

Irumera showed an expected reaction, which couldn’t be compared to Ghrud.

“Oh…So he got killed after that?”

“Hold on, do you know something?” Kyle asked Ghrud after hearing that comment.

“Huh? If you’re asking me for something, I expect you to have the proper attitude…Okay, okay, I’ll tell you, so stop it.”

Ghrud glared at Kyle when Irumera formed a fist and aimed it at him, which made him stop instantly. It seemed like Ghrud couldn’t sleep too well, so he went off to take a flight after Irumera had fallen asleep.

“Actually, staying with Irumera all the time was too much for me to handle, so I wanted to enjoy a bit of freedom.”

“…That last part wasn’t necessary, but continue.”

Ghrud apparently spotted Thunder-Breath as he left the castle. He seemed to be cautious of his surroundings, but he didn’t spot Ghrud in the skies.

“It sounds like he left the castle willfully…But he may have been summoned for all we know.”

“Oh yeah, the Demon Lord stepped outside shortly after.”

Ghrud dropped another bombshell.

“What did you say? Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, I saw her myself.”

“Was that after we split up? She said she’d get some rest, but why did she step outside, then?” Seran whispered to himself.

“So? What happened after that?”

“I mean, I went to sleep right after…I-I haven’t seen anything.” Ghrud momentarily answered, which had Kyle drop his shoulders since he expected a different answer.

“So you haven’t seen the most important part…”

“He’s always been like this…”

“Why am I getting so much shit for just sleeping?”

Met with Kyle and Irumera’s grumbling, Ghrud showed a hurt expression.

“But…now everyone feels suspicious. Who’s friend, and who’s foe?” Kyle held his head in the face of this detrimental situation when the door swung open without a warning.

“Excuse me.” Flame-Eye entered the room, not waiting for a response. “That annoying moron is finally gone, huh?”

She most likely waited for Yuriga to leave to make her arrival. She nodded in utter satisfaction.

“What do you want?” Kyle and his friends all went into a semi-cautious state when Flame-Eye sat down on the chair Yuriga previously used.

“You don’t have to be so cautious of me. I have no intention of fighting you…right now. Instead, I brought some great news with me.” Flame-Eye seemed to be enjoying herself so much she could barely hold back her smile, but Kyle and group were still cautious of her.

Immediately after, Flame-Eye looked at the two dragons.

“…Whatever you may talk about isn’t our business, and we have no intention of intervening.”

Irumera seemingly guessed what Flame-Eye tried to say and stressed her argument, which had Flame-Eye bring up her main agenda.

“Won’t you work together with me?” She said.

“…What are you talking about?”

Kyle couldn’t hide his bewilderment at this proposition he certainly didn’t expect.

“It’s simple. Demon Lord-sama asked you to work with her, right? I want you to be my personal allies. I never considered keeping humanfolk close to me, but you people seem worthwhile.”

“I feel like you’re seriously looking down on us…”

“I’m simply judging based on usable value. I’m not saying we should be friends, I’m simply saying I can use you.”

“So we’ll basically strike a deal…and what do you plan on having us do?” Kyle asked carefully.

Luiza pressed that assisting her would benefit humanfolk in the long run, but Flame-Eye was pro-war, so there was no guarantee she’d be as friendly.

“Good question…First, I want information. How the humanfolk is moving. This would allow me to adjust my own actions…This could help build a positive relationship with the humanfolk.”

“What are you talking about? Didn’t you wish to fight us?” Kyle’s expression tightened up.

Knowing that Flame-Eye was pro-war, this made no sense in his eyes.

“Oh, that. I actually don’t care about fighting with you. I’m just thinking that we could use the amount of land you have, which is why I want war. However, with Thunder-Breath dead, it should cause some change within the demonfolk…”

It seemed as if the death of a strong pro-war advocate had more influence than they initially assumed.

“What I want is influence and power. However, I’m not gunning for the throne of the Demon Lord, I know I can’t hope to live up to the title.”

She simply wanted to raise her influence, nothing more.

“And as my first offer, if you agree, I’ll make sure to get you guys out of here safely. At this rate, you’ll be confirmed as Thunder-Breath’s killers…and you’ll die.” Flame-Eye said without any remorse.

“That…why is that?” Kyle asked the expected question.

“It’s simple. Three-Arms is gonna act. He seems to have taken a liking to you…for a different reason from me.” Flame-Eye gave Kyle and Seran a defeated gaze, as if she felt bad for them. “He let up last time because the Demon Lord-sama ordered her to, but I don’t think he can hold back. If Three-Arms moves, the greater majority of the demonfolk will. And if that happens, your days will be numbered. But I can get you out here alive.”

She made it sound like this was all for Kyle’s sake.

“I’m surprised you could say that after treating us like monsters a second ago…Leaving aside us accepting or not, don’t you think we would tell the Demon Lord about this?”

“You gonna snitch? Go ahead. The Demon Lord…sama is most likely aware of what I’m doing. It’d be weird if one side didn’t plan anything.” Flame-Eye snickered to herself.

“I see, I get where you’re coming from…But I’m surprised you think so highly of us.”

“You managed to kill Thunder-Breath, after all. You can’t put him down without relying on a strong surprise attack.”

Kyle realized that Flame-Eye was under the impression that his group offed Thunder-Breath.

“You think we killed him after all?”

“I might be the most suspicious one here, but I didn’t do it. Hence, it’s gotta be you guys.” Flame-Eye bluntly responded.

She at least understood she was suspicious as all hell.

“…Oh my, it actually wasn’t you people? I was sure that was the case.”

Flame-Eye seemingly understood the truth at seeing the group’s reactions, showing a surprised reaction.

“Then was it Three-Arms after all? That is quite the surprise…but not like it matters much.” She apparently gave up on thinking too hard about it and brought about a new decision. “However, I don’t plan on taking back my proposition. Just to let you know, I rarely take interest in humanfolk like this. I haven’t got all day, so I’d prefer it if you gave me a quick answer.”

“Sadly, we can’t leak such valuable information, sorry.”

“So negotiations failed, huh? Well, that’s also fine.”

Flame-Eye took Kyle’s rejection fairly easily as she stood up from the chair. Right before she left the room, Kyle called out to her.

“Hold on, who said we’re done? I’ve got another offer, and I’m sure it won’t be something you can pass up on.”

Flame-Eye seemingly didn’t expect a human to talk this way, as her eyes opened wide.

“What I want is information about the demonfolk. And in return…I give you intel on the Demon Lord.”

“From the Demon Lord-sama?”

“That’s right. First, we’ll become the Demon Lord’s allies, her subordinates. Then we’ll give you the information we receive from her. You’ll hand us further information about the Demon Folk.”

Basically, Kyle offered to become a spy for Flame-Eye.

“What an interesting offer. But if that came to light, it’d hurt my own position, so let me think about it.”

“We don’t have all day, so as quickly as possible, yeah?”

Kyle paid back Flame-Eye’s arrogance by copying her own words. She showed a faint reaction towards that but she left the room in silence.

“…Both humanfolk and demonfolk have their own troubles, huh?”

“You’re taking this too seriously.”

The dragons discussed this with each other after they watched the exchange between Flame-Eye and Kyle.

“But are you sure about striking a deal with Flame-Eye? She’s one of the worst demons to have around, no?” Seran seemed worried, but Kyle calmly responded.

“I’m well aware of that, which makes her actions easy to read. And even if some problem were to arise…we can just betray her first.”

As she was a demon, Kyle would feel no remorse for stabbing her in the back.

“But what about the Demon Lord’s offer? I don’t want that.”

Before accepting Flame-Eye’s idea, they would end up as the Demon Lord’s subordinates. In that way, it would mean that the Holy Sword Rand would fall into her hands, and it also would end up limiting Seran’s actions.

“You don’t need to listen to any of what she says. She’s not gonna watch over you 24/7. More than anything…you won’t die that easily, right?”

Everybody else present confidently nodded along.

“You sure got a nasty personality…So, who do you think messed up Thunder-Breath? Was it Flame-Eye after all?”

“I don’t know…but the way she talked didn’t make it seem like she did…”

“Yeah, agreed.”

Kyle delivered an answer after a bit of thinking, to which Seran agreed.

“So that means it must’ve been Three-Arms? No, still…”

This time, Seran went silent, thinking that not even Three-Arms would go so far as to kill his allies to instigate such an incident. Shortly after this discussion, Yuriga returned to the room with an expression even more grave than before, showing things were even worse.

“Luiza-sama has called for you…”

No way anything good would happen, looking at her attitude.