It Seems That the Demon King Is Among the Members of the Hero’s Party

9. The Created Persecution

The demonic tribes, once slaves, rebelled. To humans and Elves back then, it was like a coup d’etat.

The demonic tribes, who wanted to be freed from slavery, and humans and Elves, who refused to acknowledge the change. The conflict only deepened.

In that case, isn’t it true that…

“The Elves hate and want to destroy demonic tribes because they’re inconvenient to their own history?”

“That’s right. The Elves have always been like that. They had a strong sense of superiority.

After the demonic tribes hid their true forms, they had many small skirmishes with humans.”

“We don’t know much about that part of history, so it’s probably true that humans are hiding it too.”

“That’s likely. Probably royalty or some scholars know the truth.

The king of Arcadia understood the conflict between humans and demonic tribes, so he was able to respond quickly.”

“I see. It’s finally sunk in.”

At this point, it’s unlikely that reconciliation between humans and demonic tribes will become an option.

To demonic tribes, humans are the detested beings who once oppressed them, and to humans, demonic tribes are the brutal killers who took away their loved ones.

Even if some form of reconciliation were to happen, the Elves would likely intervene.

It’s become a prolonged, muddy battle that won’t end until one side is destroyed.

It’s understandable that demonic tribes wouldn’t hesitate to use any means necessary. For them, this battle is a fight for survival.

“You’re quite knowledgeable, Durandal.”

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“Am I?”

“You said it yourself, didn’t you? Only royalty or some scholars know the truth.”

“Why does Durandal know about this?”

“It’s because my previous master researched history.”

“Your previous master, you mean Takeshi-san?”

“Yes! My previous master was on good terms with the Elves. Even though the time spent in the Elf kingdom was short, I had the opportunity to learn about history together with them.”

The Elf kingdom, huh. Their ideology of chosen people has always been a pain.

If I’m going to learn about history, I might as well go there. If I can learn about the history of the demon tribe, I might be able to get information about the Demon King.

But it’s not like I can just go there casually, given my current position. I’ll have to wait for an opportunity.

“Does Durandal know anything about the Demon King?”

“As I said earlier, the Demon King was the leader of the slaves, like the leader of a revolutionary army.”

“In terms of history, it’s said that the Demon King was also a slave.”

“So the Demon King was also a slave? That’s how strong the rule of humans and Elves was back then.”

“That’s right. The Demon King was no different from other demons at the time, with no exceptional strength.”

That makes sense. If slaves gain power, they’ll naturally rebel. From the rulers’ perspective, it’s better for slaves to remain powerless and ignorant. While giving them knowledge might improve work efficiency, it’s meaningless if they rebel.

By suppressing the demon tribe, the rulers demonstrated their authority.

“If the Demon King was different from other demons, it would be their charisma to unite the slaves and their thirst for knowledge, right?”

“Thirst for knowledge?”

Charisma is understandable. To lead a group, you need something that makes people believe in you. Many people find comfort in a leader’s achievements. However, the Demon King was just a slave like the others back then.

Without achievements, it’s likely that their personal qualities, such as their voice and ideology, played a significant role.

Thirst for knowledge? Yeah, that makes sense. Those without power can only resist stronger opponents by using their wits. They must have been desperate to acquire knowledge for that purpose.

“But it’s hard to imagine that demons were powerless back then.”

“Yes, if we think about it based on the current demon tribe, that’s probably the case. The demon tribe’s strength is among the top across all species.”

“All the demons we fought were strong. I don’t remember ever winning easily. If people in the past were stronger than us, I can accept that…”

“I think they were stronger than us. But they’re not as strong as the current demon tribe. Simply put, the current demon tribe has become stronger over time. And the past demon tribe was weak, that’s all.”

The past is the past, and the present is the present, huh.

“There was something that the current demon tribe has but the past demon tribe didn’t. That’s probably the reason for their weakness.”

“What didn’t they have?”

“Magic, of course.”

“A demon tribe that can’t use magic? I never thought of that.”

Magic is the symbol of the demon tribe, along with their physical characteristics like wings and tails. But what represents them the most is the ‘dark’ attribute magic that only they can use.

Many of their magic spells are extremely powerful, with high killing potential.

“It’s said that there were six attributes of magic back then.”

“That’s an attribute without darkness, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Back then, the darkness attribute hadn’t been discovered yet, and even among the demon tribe, there were no users. I think they believed there were only six attributes.”

“Even so, couldn’t they have managed somehow with magic other than darkness?”

Even without the darkness attribute, demons with high magical power should have been a threat if they used magic.

When I asked about this, Durandal looked surprised, his body stiffening with a jerk.

“You didn’t know, Master?”

“What is it?”

“Demons can’t use magic other than darkness. They have no aptitude for it.”

“I see, that’s how it is.”

So that’s why the demons we’ve been fighting until now could only use darkness magic. I thought they preferred to use it because of its high performance, but it seems they can only use darkness.

“This is a good opportunity to talk about the history of magic, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know much about it either, so please tell me.”

Of course, I wouldn’t know about the specialized topic of magic history. If I had chosen the path of a scholar instead of a mercenary, it would have been different.

“Let’s start from the beginning. When do you think humans started using magic?”

“That’s… I never thought about it. At least, demons were using it during the era when they were slaves.”

“Humans started using magic much earlier than that. It was during the time when gods, or beings called gods, descended upon the mortal world.”

“Gods…”

Mirabel suddenly came to mind.

Was she around back then?

“Now, Master, I have a question. How do you think humans learned about magic?”

“Either there was someone who created magic within humans or someone who taught humans about magic.”

“The latter, I suppose. There’s someone who taught all races, excluding demons, about magic.”

Demons are the outcasts. The one who taught magic must have disliked demons. In other words…

“It’s the god that the church worships.”

“That’s correct.”

The elves’ dislike for demons is a more fundamental issue. The god that the elves worship dislikes demons, and that’s enough reason to dislike them.

The elves, chosen by god, and the demons, abandoned by god.

It’s only natural to treat demons as impure beings.

“At first, humans didn’t know how to use the magic they were given, so it didn’t cause much of a stir.”

“It’s because humans and elves tried to master the magic they were given that they became skilled.”

“That’s right. And as they spent years polishing their magic, they realized that there was one race that couldn’t use magic.”

“That’s how demons became slaves…”

In other words, this is a history of persecution intentionally created by god.