My name is Beria, and although many underestimate me because I’m a woman, I’m one of the twelve demon kings.
Despite my appearance, I’m an ancient vampire and I have reigned for a long time compared to the other demon kings.
Monsters, demons, the more we fight the stronger we become, that’s us.
There are twelve people recognized for their strength as demon king.
Among them, including myself there are four called the Four Immortals, possessors of a mighty strength.
Our strength is absolute, never behind anyone. However, there are always those hot blooded idiots who only think of us as stepping stones.
Like that Rannu.
I only met that Rannu guy once, at a conference between demon kings.
A rude and vulgar werewolf who looks down on others.
The kind of demon king that didn’t even try to hide his greed.
He governed his people with fear and gave no mercy to any who disobeyed him.
The population dragged under such reign was pitiful of course, however, since the other party was a demon king, I tried my best to not interfere with his affairs.
Even so, three years ago, Rannu had suddenly declared war on me.
It seems that his aim was my seat as one of the Four Immortals.
For me, things like titles are of little importance, however, if you plan to bring harm to my territory, then I won’t let you do as you please.
As result, it ended in a full scale war. By the way, it’s not like I’m a battle maniac.
I may be the one who says it, but I believe that among all the demon kings I’m the gentlest.
I even intended to recognize him as such if he had not brought harm to my territory.
Of course, once you cross my limits, I will merciless beat you to death…
Maybe you think of me as kind, but since my territory is already so large, I wouldn’t be able to control if I were to expand myself.
So I don’t need more territories.
Rather than territory, I wish for capable subordinates.
Each one of the Four Immortal has their own faction, except me.
Most of the demon kings belong to one of those factions. In fact, I’m already in an alliance with two amicable demon kings like me.
Even though he had a personality problem, Rannu was a man who was called a demon king, so if it were possible I would have liked him to have worked under me.
It would be meaningless to kill Rannu and forcefully replace him with a new demon king, if the one who would replace him didn’t have enough power.
We are talking about hot blooded demons here, if a demon lord can’t defend himself, he’ll be killed.
When I thought about all the problems his death would cause, I would have liked to avoid it.
That is why I tried with all my strength to avoid war with Rannu, but nevertheless he rejected my good intentions.
Holding a ray of hope, I thought, that maybe, but…
As expected, I couldn’t avoid war.
To be honest, considering his character, it was pointless to have hope.
He also didn’t accept my advice to surrender.
There is a vast difference between my war potential and Rannu’s.
It was inevitable for Rannu to be cornered, and now the final phase of my subjugation strategy begins.
The only thing left to capture is Rannu’s castle.
Even though I have driven him into a corner, the other party continues to be a long-lived demon king and as long as his true strength remains unknown, as a careful demon king that I am, I will continue to advance carefully.
I took a position in front of the Rannu’s castle.
The preparations to attack the castle were steadily advancing….
It happened when preparations to attack entered its final phase.
An aberrant existence suddenly appeared.
When we were trying to recover our lost energy before the castle attack began, a gargoyle appears flying in front of me and my subordinates.
The gargoyle’s eyes had lost their light, probably under slave magic.
I thought he had come to do reconnaissance, but the impression he gave was very imposing, as if he were saying, please shoot me down.
Even if I didn’t know of his purpose, I couldn’t leave an enemy flying around us. I gave the order to my subordinates to use fire magic and shoot a fireball towards the gargoyle.
The explosion caused by the fire magic, besides shrouding the gargoyle in smoke, hindered my vision.
What I most detest is sacrificing subordinates in vain.
My anger towards the demon king Rannu grows inside me.
You can think of me as naive, but using slave magic is not something I like.
It’s true that soldiers who only know how to move forward without being hindered by their emotions are advantageous for war, but for those who fight at their side they are truly unbearable.
Risking your life fighting against a machine-like being it’s meaningless, a battle only has meaning if both sides are equal.
One should be able to decide whether to live or die on their own will.
Little by little the smoke produced by the magic dissipates.
The gargoyle must have been destroyed in thousands of pieces after receiving the attack head on.
I’m sure everyone thought that.
In truth, I also thought that, but…
（It can’t be… what is that）
There, I saw something that should be impossible.
What appeared when the smoke cleared was an unharmed gargoyle flipping his wings.
There is no sign that defensive magic has been activated when receiving the attack.
Typically, the average gargoyle has a certain resistance against physical attacks but instead its resistance against magic is ordinary. It has a tolerance against water and earth magic but against fire magic its resistance is ordinary.
（Despite that… he came unharmed?）
Even in such a situation, I didn’t lose my composure.
No matter how strong the gargoyle was, it would never be an opponent for a demon king like me.
But, in the next moment. My composure was easily blown away.
Looking at us from the sky, the gargoyle started casting his magic.
In an instant, an immense amount of magic power started to wrap up everything as far you could see.
（Eh? A l-lie… What’s with that amount of magic power? His magic power is the same as mine or even greater!）
Judging by the magic signature and its intonation, the magic that he must be casting should be Tidal Wave.
A top ranking level 7 magic, capable of only being casted by few demon kings.
（Bad! This is really bad!）
If he was allowed use such magic, my army would instantly be destroyed.
I rushed towards the gargoyle in a hurry, in order to obstruct the magic invoking.
I judged that no one besides me would be able to stop that gargoyle.
I quickly changed my objective.
（I’ll first steal the gargoyle’s mobility before dealing with Rannu. ）
If his master Rannu dies, the slave magic should lose its effect.
My plan was to take care of the demon king Rannu first so as to avoid a confrontation with that gargoyle.
Even I won’t leave unscathed if I were to clash with that gargoyle.
（I can’t fight head on with such an monster）
After getting thrown around by my hair, having my stomach pierced by a stone needle and mud spat all over my face, I somehow managed to burn his wings and make him fall down.
After stealing his mobility, I quickly force my way into the castle, before the gargoyle can return to the front lines.
To be honest, Rannu’s power pales in comparison to that of this gargoyle.
It wasn’t that Rannu was weak, but that the gargoyle was too strong.
Before Rannu died, I asked him about the gargoyle, but he didn’t seem to know about such a gargoyle.
（What’s with that! What kind of master are you!）
Although in the end I won, the power of the gargoyle was comparable with the Four Immortals.
I was really relieved I personally came here.
What on Earth was that abnormal gargoyle?
If I had not come personally, my army could have been decimated.
After I gained control of Rannu’s castle, I commanded my subordinates to search for the fallen gargoyle, but according to the information they were able to obtain, the gargoyle would have already escaped to the south.
Allowing such a gargoyle to move freely would be really dangerous.
Of course, I ordered my troops to search for the gargoyle, but without interfering carelessly.
For now I could only pray that the gargoyle that has now regained its ego is of good nature and not evil.
If it were possible, I would like such a gargoyle as my subordinate…
（But I would hate if he were resenting me…）
Even though I was a little worried, the post war period continued steadily.
「Beria-sama, I have gathered all those aspirants who wish to enter our army」
「I-I will go there shortly, please wait a moment」
（Uuu… The mud doesn’t fall down from my face, and my hair is a complete mess）
I cleaned my face strongly with a towel, but even so the dirt does not fall completely.
（That damn gargoyle! I can’t got out in public like this!）
It was impossible to clean the mud by myself, so I reluctantly decided to seek my maid for help.
Sure enough, the maid was surprised while looking at my face.
Beria-sama? She called out doubtfully.
（Kuh, this humiliation…）
It was two hours later that Beria presented herself victoriously in front of the soldiers.
