Dungeon Defense (WN)

The monarchs of every nation assembled their soldiers once the Black Death swept across the continent.

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They wanted to point their blades at the Demon Lords before the plague could harm their public opinion.
The armies of twelve nations advanced while shouting for the subjugation of Demon Lords.
Rank 49 Demon Lord Crocell fell in battle because of this.
The Demon Lords became conscious of the threat and retaliated.
An alliance was formed.

The Demon Lord army smashed into the human army like an angry wave.
The soldiers from Brittany led by Queen Henrietta were wiped out while the Habsburgians led by Imperial Princess Elizabeth went as far as to give up on their capital as they retreated…….

“Fine.
If that’s what you guys want, then we’ll conquer the continent at a later date! Before that day arrives, I’ll clean up all the trash that exists in the world.”

The head of the Plains Faction who had taken the position of the vanguard of the Demon Lord Army, Rank 8 Demon Lord Barbatos was defeated after chasing after the enemy troops too far.
With Barbatos at the lead, the Plains Faction broke away from the Crescent Alliance.

Year 1507 of the Imperial Calendar.

The Plains Faction occupied a central portion of Habsburg.

Barbatos wisely chose to not govern the land herself.
She controlled the body of the already deceased Crown Prince Rudolf with black magic and put him at the front.

Crown Prince Rudolf made a declaration.

“Elizabeth von Habsburg, first, you are an immoral person who killed your own father and brother.
Second, you are a tyrant who abandoned your people and the capital.
Third, you are a traitor who caused the collapse of the empire.
May you be cursed eternally as the witch who committed these three heinous crimes!”

Thousands of humans held their breaths as they stared.

The imperial palace had burned down.

Crown Prince Rudolf was wearing an impressive uniform and standing within these remains.
It was a radiantly scarlet outfit.
The Crown Prince’s clothes shined awkwardly within the imperial palace of an empire that had already fallen.

“I, Rudolf von Habsburg, declare that I am the rightful heir to the throne and the guardian of the empire.
I alone have the right to lead the empire; however, I, unfortunately, do not have the power to rid the evil that has spread across the land.
Therefore.”

The Crown Prince lifted up a silver crown in his hands.

“I bestow the duty as the guardian, the task of cleansing the land, and regency over Habsburg to this person here―Barbatos.”

A girl with beautiful white hair received the silver crown.
She half-heartedly slipped the crown on her left arm.
Her actions went against all formalities, but no one said anything about it.
The girl grinned as she looked down from the palace.

She spread her arms out.

– Guuuuuoooooh!

– Keruk, kirururuk!

– Kuhula khrb! Khhb!

Tens of thousands of monsters let out a cheer at the same time.
The humans who were surrounded by these monsters trembled in fear.
They had been dragged out here to act as witnesses for this event.
Only a small minority of humans who realized the era had changed followed along with the monsters and shouted ‘All hail Her Highness the Regent!’.

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Barbatos.

The Demon Lord of Immortality and the Rank 8 Demon Lord who leads the Plains Faction became the regent of Brandenburg, Austerlitz, and finally, the Habsburg Empire.

On this same day.

“All humans were born free!”

The Third Imperial Princess of Habsburg, Elizabeth von Habsburg, made a declaration in front of hundreds of thousands of commoners and soldiers.

“The Gods have bestowed upon us a right that should not be conceded to others.
We must protect our own lives.
We must pursue our own freedom and our own happiness.
This will always be a value that can never be broken.”

Several generals wearing black military uniforms were standing behind Elizabeth.
They had been disposing of court nobles for the past few weeks.
The disposal was carried out before the watchful eyes of the people.
The people would all cheer every time it was carried out.

“Humanity created governments solely for the sake of protecting this right.
Where does this government’s authority come from? That is correct.
You, their authority comes from the consent of the people.
If any government dares to take the right of the people, then you can bring that government down―and you should!”

‘That’s right!’ and ‘yeah!’ were shouted from the crowd.
A countless number of cheers echoed throughout the sky like fireworks during a festival.

“O proud people of Habsburg, I ask you this.
Has the empire protected your lives!?”

– Nay! Nay! Nay!

The people shouted in a single voice.
They raised their long spears.
There were heads impaled on the ends of their spears.
They were the heads of court nobles and their families.
The city was dyed in blood.

Elizabeth stretched her arm out and shouted.

“Has the empire protected your freedom!?”

– Nay! Nay! Nay!

“Has the empire, the nobles, protected your happiness!?”

– Nay! Nay! Nay

“That is right! The empire was unable to protect your lives, your freedom, or your happiness! We must therefore stand up here and now and tear down those governments that are not for the people.
Realize the promise that was made a long time ago.
The promise of authority that the Gods had given humanity long ago!”

Elizabeth unsheathed the sword that was on her side.

At that moment, the generals standing behind her unsheathed their swords at the same time as well.
The sun reflected off their blades as dozens of swords stabbed up at the sky.

“From this day forth, I, Elizabeth, shall abandon the castle known as Habsburg and become a commoner like you all.
I, for the sake of commoners, as the representative of commoners, declare the end of the Habsburg Empire―I avow that a new Habsburg Republic has been founded!”

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Hundreds of thousands of cheers filled the city.

Elizabeth.

The woman who had filled the position of Third Imperial Princess of the Habsburg Empire, secretary of military affairs, and supreme commander, ascended as the representative of the national assembly that consists of 12 members, the imperator of the revolutionary mercenaries, and finally, the leader for life of the new Habsburg Republic.

The imperial regent that rules the north, Barbatos.

The republican leader that rules the south, Elizabeth.

Habsburg was split in half and was placed into a situation that no one could have possibly predicted.

“That fucking brat……she’s trying to monopolize the human world, huh? We can’t let that happen.”

“Big mouthfuls often choke.
Hehe, it’d be troubling if she forgets about how we had saved her from Paimon.”

A majority of the Demon Lords were upset that the Plains Faction had taken the human world for themselves.
They each led their own armies to forcefully take over a portion of northern Habsburg.

The other monarchs of other human nations came to the conclusion that they had no other choice but to support the republic within Habsburg, so they sent aid funds to the republic under the pretext of suppressing the Demon Lord army.

However, the rulers were shocked when they found out that the Demon Lord whom they expected to always aim for the destruction of the human world declared that she would be the regent of an empire.
They started to wonder if Demon Lords were actually more political than they expected and the potential uses they could have…….

A plague and famine, war and pillaging, unity and division.

During this time where the continent was entering an unprecedented amount of chaos.

The very culprit behind all this chaos―Demon Lord Dantalian was silently tilting a glass of wine.

* * *

The procedure of engraving a slave seal onto Daisy had begun.

Fortunately, there was someone who was an utter expert when it came to slave seals.
It was the leader of the assassin group, Jeremi.
She was on the receiving half of this procedure when she was little and she was later put in charge of carrying out the procedure on dozens of people.
According to her, this procedure was incredibly painful.

The slave seal was engraved on the heart.

Hearts were the center points of one’s mana.
If that point is taken from someone, then a slave would never be able to go against their master’s orders.
Jeremi let out a small chuckle as she explained this.

“They cannot inflict harm on their masters and they would experience severe pain even if they only think about killing their master.
Fufu.”

Jeremi placed a blade into some boiling water.
She was preparing for the procedure.

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“Almost every slave is rebellious at first.
I’m going to kill my master, I won’t stand for this, they would stay up for multiple nights building up their resentment like this instead of dreaming.
However, after experiencing heart-tearing pain every time they have that thought……fufu, it doesn’t take long for their rebellious spirit to disappear.”

“…….”

Daisy didn’t respond as she kept her mouth shut.

The 10-year-old girl was laying on a wooden bed naked.

Her arms and legs were bound tightly.
Even her neck, waist, and thighs were shackled down in case the anesthesia were to wear off.
It would be bad if she started to twist around due to the intense pain of the surgery.

The method of engraving a seal on the heart was simple and barbaric.
You had to cut the flesh until the heart was revealed and pour potions into the opening constantly to prevent the patient from dying.
There were already dozens of potions prepared on a table.

Jeremi smiled.

“Think of this as an honor.
You are receiving a surgery that costs hundreds of gold coins.
Your master has basically acknowledged that you have that much value.
There is nothing greater than this as a slave.
Is that not so?”

“…….”

Daisy remained silent.
She simply stared at Jeremi with emotionless eyes.
She didn’t seem afraid or hesitant even though her chest was going to be opened.
Jeremi seemed pleased by this as she continued to chuckle.

“How could someone be so like me when I was little?”

“…….”

“Now then, open your mouth.
You have to consume a lot of potions.”

Daisy opened her small mouth.
Jeremi picked up a bottle and pressed the opening of it against the girl’s mouth.
A red liquid flowed down the girl’s throat quickly.

“Another bottle.”

Jeremi put the empty bottle away and picked up another bottle.
Daisy’s throat continued to gulp down the contents.
The bottle became empty and Jeremi picked up another one.

“And another one.”

It wasn’t long before five bottles were emptied.
Daisy’s brow started to twitch around the sixth bottle.
The speed at which she consumed the potions had visibly decreased.
The girl groaned as if she were in anguish.

“Uuub……uub…….”

Jeremi chided her.

“The potions will lose their effect if too much time passes.
If you continue to drink like a sloth, then you could die during the procedure, you know? One more bottle.”

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“Uub, uuub……! Haa, huu……!”

“Be quiet and drink.”

Bottle after bottle.

“……Uub, uub! Haa! Uuub…….”

Once the number of bottles that were empty had exceeded 10, Daisy’s face became visibly pained.
She looked like she was just barely managing to hold back her retching.
A lot of the liquid from the potions that couldn’t be swallowed was flowing down the side of her mouth.
Nonetheless, Jeremi paid this no mind as she picked up another potion.

“Do not spit it back out.
This is all gold.”

“Haa, hb…….”

“You cannot compare to how expensive these potions are.
Hurry and open up.”

It finally came to an end once she emptied her twelfth bottle. 

Daisy’s face was contorted as if she were about to vomit; however, her gaze somehow managed to stay cold.
Even if her face was contorted and her lips were trembling, Daisy continued to stare at the other party with completely emotionless eyes.

I was watching this while seated in a corner of the room. 

“I will ask you one last time.
Are you sure that you will not regret your decision?”

I asked her.

“You will become a doll who will have to listen to my orders for all your life.
Not only your body, but your mind will also become subservient to me.
A life with no freedom will be promised to you.
Will you truly not regret this?”

“…….”

No answer.

She might have stayed silent because she was afraid that she would start vomiting if she tried to speak.
Nevertheless, I knew that Daisy’s gaze was a more than sufficient answer.
I nodded my head and turned to Jeremi.

“Jeremi.
Continue.”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter.
Lots of big events happening around the world, huh? Today’s TL note will be rather short since I can’t think of anything else to say here :^).

I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.