Damn Reincarnation

elt that it wouldn’t be impossible for him to even kill Iris.
Of course, there was no way to tell that without trying it, but this meant that they were now close enough that Eugene could make an estimate of his chances of victory.

As for Rhode… Rhode Lonick? The Rhode whose head Hamel had been able to send flying three hundred years before, when Hamel wasn’t even in his prime and still unfamiliar with fighting demonfolk?

‘How strong could that shitty bastard have become even after staying alive for three hundred years?’ Eugene scoffed silently.

After considering how Rhode compared with Iris, Eugene couldn’t help but feel dismissive.
He smirked at Kristina, who still had a worried expression on her face.

“Don’t make that face.
It won’t be dangerous and it won’t even take that long,” Eugene assured her.

Kristina hesitated.
“…However….”

“Don’t worry about me and just wait for me here at the inn,” Eugene instructed.

The Bishop of Alcarte, Eileen, was indeed somehow immune to it, but ordinary demonfolk were allergic to divine power.
As such, back three hundred years back, any missions involving infiltration and reconnaissance were left exclusively to Hamel and Sienna, with Anise being left behind.

The same was true this time as well.
While Kristina accepted their circumstances, it was instead Anise who expressed her displeasure.

[In my past life, it was at times like these that I really hated Sienna,] Anise confessed.

‘Huh?’ Kristina responded in confusion.

Anise explained, [Molon was an idiot, so infiltration and reconnaissance were impossible for him, and Sir Vermouth needed to stay with the main group in case of an emergency.
As someone who isn’t much different from a civilian if I’m not able to use divine power, I was, of course, excluded from taking such missions.]

Not much different from a civilian? Kristina wasn’t sure about everything else Anise had said, but she was having difficulty accepting that claim in particular.

[That’s why Sienna and Hamel were always the ones who went out on patrol,] Anise continued.
[Whenever that happened, that bitch Sienna always seemed so happy that she could die, but she would forcefully keep her cheeks from moving and hold her lips together so that they couldn’t twitch in order to act like it was nothing to her.
Her blatantly pleased expression seemed intended to piss me off.
You don’t know how many times I had to hold back the urge to give her a few good slaps….]

Eugene had already decided to try and infiltrate the Kazard Mine after dark, and he had also done his reconnaissance.
Even so, they still had quite a lot of time left, so he decided to remind himself of the old days.
That was why they had come here, to the Demon King of Carnage’s Castle.

It was forbidden to ride a dark-power car within the castle walls.
As such, all dark-power vehicles had to be parked in the parking lot outside of the castle walls.

“So this is the Demon King of Carnage’s Castle… where their legend first began…,” Mer said slowly, her mouth hanging open as she looked up at the castle.

The group of tourists led by their tour guide had already entered through the gates of the castle ahead of them, but Eugene and his companions weren’t members of the tour group in the first place.
Eugene and Anise were living witnesses of what had happened here three hundred years ago, so why would they even need a guide?

“This really reminds me of the old days,” Eugene said as he patted Mer on the head and approached the castle gates.

Although he had been indignant that this castle was being advertised as a tourist attraction, it seemed like there wasn’t any entrance fee needed to enter the Demon King of Carnage’s Castle.

“In that aspect, they’re actually better than Yuras or Aroth,” Eugene muttered with a smirk as he led them forward.

The first thing they saw after passing through the castle’s walls was a memorial stone that was as tall and sturdy as the castle itself.

“This memorial stone records the names of the heroes who lost their lives here during their challenge to bring peace to the world three hundred years ago.
While we can’t guarantee that the names of every hero who perished here has been recorded, the Demon King of Incarceration swears to honor all those who gave their lives for peace….”

The guide who had entered ahead of them was giving an explanation for the memorial stone in front of the tourist group.
Kristina turned her head, concerned that Eugene might just go crazy after hearing such words, but Eugene’s expression was as calm as ever.

“What a load of bullshit,” Eugene spat out a curse with that same calm expression.

In this Demon King of Carnage’s Castle that the Demon King of Incarceration had personally rebuilt, Eugene recalled the last time that he had left this place, three hundred years before.

The day after they had killed the Demon King.

Everyone had worked together to destroy the castle.
Molon had blasted apart the walls with a swing of his giant hammer, while Hamel had focussed on tearing down the castle towers.
Sienna had also let loose with her spells, and even Vermouth had fired off his Thunderbolt Pernoa and the Dragon Spear with a hearty laughter.

It wasn’t just them either.
Everyone who had fought and survived in the taking of this Demon King’s Castle had participated in the destruction of the castle.
All of the bodies of their comrades whose names had been placed on this memorial stone had been carried outside beforehand.
While everyone else united together to demolish the castle, Anise and the other priests were reciting prayers to honor the souls of those who had passed away.

[I thought that I would never see this castle again,] Anise muttered inside Kristina ’s head.
[…I’m only saying this now, Kristina, and I’ve always kept this a secret from Hamel, but I… I really thought that all of us would die here in this castle.]

At these words, Kristina unconsciously halted her steps.
Fortunately, they had already entered the castle and were now waiting for the elevator that led up to the roof.

[Right now, this place might have elevators installed for the sake of convenience, but three hundred years ago, there wasn’t anything like that in here.
At that time, we… we felt like we were facing our certain deaths.
We were a suicide squad with the sole mission of killing the Demon King.
In order to send the five of us up, more than a hundred times our number were fighting to buy us time outside of the castle.]

Kristina listened silently.

[However, that didn’t mean that the Demon King of Carnages Castle was left completely empty.
High-rank demonfolk serving as royal guards were stationed within the castle.
But even that meant that we had successfully accomplished the preliminary part of our plan, and that we had made enough preparations.
Since his army had been led outside, we only had to defeat a small number of high-rank demonfolk before facing the Demon King of Carnage.]

The elevator arrived on the first floor.

[Our battle against the high-ranking demonfolk… wasn’t all that difficult.
At that time we were still inexperienced, but even so, the enemy was well within our capabilities to face.
Since the Demon King of Carnage was ranked fifth among Demon Kings, that meant his followers were also weaker than those who served the higher-ranking Demon Kings.]

‘Sister…’ Kristina quietly called out.

[That’s right.
It was just for a short moment, but we really were being overly arrogant.
That was why the shock that followed so easily sent us into despair.
As the fifth-ranked Demon King, the Demon King of Carnage was indeed the weakest of the five Demon Kings.
However, upon meeting such an existence for the first time, the entity known as a Demon King made me fear for my life from the very moment that I first encountered him,] Anise confessed.,

Kristina hesitated.
‘…However… Sister, you and the others — no, all of you heroes from three hundred years ago, didn’t you eventually succeed in killing the Demon King of Carnage?’

[Yes.
In the end, we did succeed in killing him.
After fighting for three whole days and nights and going through countless life and death crises, that is.]

The elevator climbed upward.

Inside of the spacious elevator, there were many other tourists besides Eugene, Kristina, and Mer.
They were all humans.
With excited expressions, they chatted about the Demon King Castle’s scenery as well as the legends of this place.

[I’m having a lot of mixed feelings,] Anise whispered.
[We killed the Demon King and destroyed his Castle.
Now, three hundred years have passed and the fragile peace that we managed to achieve still continues undisturbed.
In that era, blood and corpses piled up like small hills in the Demon King’s Castle, but now, what was destroyed back then has been rebuilt and has become a tourist destination.
I died, leaving behind just my soul, and Hamel has been reincarnated… but we’re now back here.]

‘…Is all this situation causing you distress?’ Kristina asked cautiously.

[I think it’s only natural for me to feel displeased.
The very existence of this place is offensive to both Hamel and myself.
After all, doesn’t it seem like the battle site where we all fought so desperately is being treated inappropriately? However…apart from that, there are many other emotions.
I’m also feeling proud.
Because we fought here…and we won.
It’s because of that, that we can be here now.]

At these words, Kristina unconsciously burst into laughter.
She nodded her head in agreement as she clutched the rosary that was hidden inside her jacket.

The elevator soon arrived on the top floor and the doors opened to reveal a rooftop that was spacious and fully open to the sky.

Mer unconsciously let out an awed exclamation at the sight that lay in front of her.

“Whoaaah….”

This was the landmark of the Demon King of Carnage’s Castle.

The Death List.

Three hundred years ago, everyone worked together to destroy the Demon King’s Castle.
However, one of the walls was left standing.
This was because everyone was instantly convinced by the idea shouted by one of the knights who had fought at the castle — that something should be left behind so that no one would forget this day.

—Let’s write down our names.

Molon was the one who proposed this idea.
At first, his intention was to write down all of their names, but the commander of the allied forces at the time shook his head.
The commander insisted that only the names of the five people who had managed to kill the Demon King should be written down, because the fewer names there were, the easier it would be for those names to serve as role models.

Vermouth, who wasn’t very eager to play along with this idea, was still the very first to get pushed forward.
In the end, with a bothered yet helpless expression on his face, Vermouth wrote his name on the wall.

Vermouth Lionheart.

Hamel Dynas.

Sienna Merdein.

Anise Slywood.

Molon Ruhr.

Their five names were written on the wall.

Then in red, the names of the Demon Kings were also written down.

The Demon King of Destruction.

The Demon King of Incarceration.

The Demon King of Fury.

The Demon King of Cruelty.

The Demon King of Carnage.

Next to the name of the Demon King of Carnage, which was written down at the very bottom, a cross was drawn.
The list was thus engraved into the only bit left standing of the castle, and everyone chuckled as they looked at it.
Thinking back on it now, it was childish of them to have done something like that, but at that time, everyone had been full of laughter.

Wasn’t it only natural?

That was the first time a Demon King had been defeated.
This was the first time that the humans, who had been one-sidedly trampled by the Demon Kings and their armies, had managed to kill a Demon King.

At that moment, everyone held hope for the future.
Hope that one day, they would be able to defeat all of the Demon Kings.

Eugene didn’t get close to the Death List.
Just why had they moved it up to the rooftop from its original resting place down below? With a wry smile, Eugene turned to look around at the top of the castle walls.

It wasn’t hard to find what he was looking for.
It seemed that Anise had also felt the same urge.
Kristina was currently looking in the same direction as Eugene.

Following the battle that had lasted three days and three nights, when Vermouth’s Holy Sword finally pierced through the Demon King’s heart…

At that time, Hamel had been standing right next to Vermouth.

Hamel was piercing the Demon King’s throat with the spear that he was holding in both hands.
Molon was blocking the Demon King’s Annihilation Hammer that was attempting to crush Vermouth with his bare hands.
Sienna was holding the Demon King immobile with her magic, and Anise was utilizing her divine power to keep the Demon King from regenerating, while also keeping everyone alive.

This scene had repeated itself dozens of times over the past three days and nights.

Finally, at dawn, when the sun had just begun to rise, they succeeded in killing the Demon King of Carnage.

Eugene could clearly remember what Vermouth had looked like at that moment, when he had pulled out the Holy Sword that he had stuck through the chest of the Demon King of Carnage.

At that time, Vermouth’s light was as bright as the dawn itself.
Everyone was excited about defeating the Demon King, but Vermouth’s appearance with his back to the light had appeared sacred enough to suppress everyone’s sense of excitement.

It was rare to see Vermouth laugh.
However, at that moment, he was smiling so brightly that it was hard to believe that this was still the usual Vermouth.

—Thank you.

—For accompanying me here…and for not dying…thank you.

Eugene and Anise were both looking at the place where Vermouth had been standing back then.

The sun was floating high in the sky.
Today, it didn’t seem particularly dazzling.
However, the two of them felt like they were now looking at the dawn that they had seen back then.

“On that day, this is where the legend began,” said the guide who was standing in front of the Death List

At these words, Eugene laughed unconsciously.

Although he felt that the word ‘legend’ was too grand of a description, it was true that, on that day, something truly had begun here.

A promise to kill all the Demon Kings.

The resolve to save the world.

A hope that they would be able to achieve the seemingly impossible.

It all started here, three hundred years ago.

1.
The demonfolk race that all known Demon Kings are said to be members of.
☜

2.
The original Korean text uses OB, which is short for ‘old boy’ and is used in much the same way as English uses ‘old hand’.
☜