What If the Strongest Villain from the Original Story Became the Protagonist's Ally? - Chapter 80 - Reconstruction, and Demi-humans

Several days had passed since His Majesty’s birthday festival.

Even after several days, the town remained devastated. Monster corpses littered the streets. Mountains of crushed rubble. The removal of all this debris wasn’t progressing at all.

“Iris.”

“What is it, Yuu-san?”

In a corner of the royal palace interior, I asked Iris, who had visited my room, as a way to pass time.

“How are the town’s reconstruction efforts going? Still not making progress?”

“If I’m being honest about what I see, it’s still very slow. We’re especially struggling with disposing of the monster corpses.”

“Monster corpse disposal?”

“Yes. Such a massive number of monsters appeared throughout the town. We need to thoroughly confirm there are no surviving monsters hiding anywhere.”

“Were there actually any remaining monsters?”

“There were. Mainly several small-type monsters. The knights are subjugating them so there’s no damage, but because of that, we’ve had to relocate residents to other areas—we’re completely short-handed.”

“Even after it’s over, it’s still troublesome…”

“Really.”

Iris let out a sigh with a “good grief” expression.

Fatigue had accumulated on her to the point where even the light makeup she wore couldn’t hide it.

If Iris was in this state, I could only imagine how difficult things were for the king and the soldiers working on site.

Living comfortably and relaxing in my room, I felt a slight pang of guilt.

“Hey, Iris.”

“Yes?”

“Should I help with the reconstruction work too? I’m good at physical labor.”

“That’s not necessary. Even if we’re short-handed, adding just one person like Yuu-san wouldn’t change things that much. It would certainly help, but considering potential emergencies, it’s better for you to stay hidden. Your identity was exposed, wasn’t it?”

“…Well, yeah.”

I had told her about that old man I encountered at the birthday festival.

A person who knew me. His body had already been recovered, but there was still a possibility that others who knew my true identity might have infiltrated this town.

Even if my identity was exposed, it wouldn’t affect me personally, but if the citizens learned that the royal family had been harboring a prince from an enemy nation, the ones who would be blamed were Iris and the royal family.

Since there was a possibility that rumors might be circulating, I couldn’t leave the royal palace like this.

As long as I didn’t show myself, no one would know I was here.

“However… there’s one thing I don’t understand.”

“Something you don’t understand?”

“It’s about that knight who saw through Yuu-san’s identity.”

“What about that old codger?”

“Old codger… that’s rather rude, Yuu-san.”

“Sorry. So? What’s bothering you?”

“The knight himself. What was the true intention of a man who was once betrayed by the Empire, yet chose to lend a hand to the Empire? Normally, wouldn’t someone try to get revenge?”

“You’re right.”

Iris was absolutely correct.

That old man had been dismissed from his position as knight commander.

Normally, one would think to either seek revenge or want nothing to do with the Empire.

But that old man had attacked the Kingdom in cooperation with the bandits.

Originally, he was a character who didn’t appear in the source material, but what exactly had happened due to my absence?

I could make some educated guesses.

“This is purely my imagination, but…”

“Yes?”

“That old man was probably hired by either the Empire’s first or second prince, don’t you think?”

“By an imperial prince?”

“With the reward being his restoration to knight commander or something like that. That man had real ability, and if he was thinking about returning to the position of knight commander…”

“Hmm… would he believe such a story? That kind of offer?”

“If the offer came from the person who had him fired, he’d definitely refuse, but if the proposal came from the first or second prince, there’s a possibility he’d believe it. After all, those two weren’t personally involved. Their personalities are the worst too, and there’s a possibility they’d add other rewards.”

Something like promising him a position worthy of his status once they conquered the world.

That would make the position of knight commander seem small by comparison.

Well, if it were me, I wouldn’t take such a suspicious proposal, but that old man unfortunately had real power.

He probably thought attacking the royal capital would be easy.

In fact, that old man’s abilities, including his artifacts, were stronger than Iris’s.

It was fortunate that he happened to encounter me and was defeated. I shudder to think what would have happened if he had clashed with Iris instead.

“Hiring people from outside… if Yuu-san’s theory is correct, we might face more enemies in the future.”

“Yeah. There are several small nations near the Empire. There’s a possibility they’ll be threatened into compliance.”

In the scenario, vassal states would sometimes lend aid, resulting in even more tragic outcomes.

Considering that, there was one thing we needed to do before the war began.

The same thing our opponents were doing. We needed to increase our military strength.

“While the Empire steadily prepares for war, we also need to counter by increasing our forces. If we clash as things stand now, nothing will remain even if we achieve victory.”

“But increasing military strength isn’t simple, you know? We’d need to demonstrate various benefits.”

“I have a proposal. I know of beings who might become our allies.”

“Beings who might become our allies?”

“Iris, you’re the key.”

“I am…?”

The developments were happening quite quickly, but if war was about to begin, the situation had changed.

The time had come for me to venture out into the external world again, which I had been planning to visit eventually.

My destination was a forest situated between the Empire and the Kingdom.

There, beings who weren’t ordinary humans—demi-humans—were living.