Battle's Aftermath [1] [Bonus]

The stars.

The beautiful, bright, warm stars of Earth's blue sky.

There was a time when I looked at the stars curiously and thought "Why the hell can they shine and I can't?".

Its mysteriously blinding and beautiful lights left me amazed, stunned. Every night, every day.

I was a pathetic weakling when those astronomical phenomenal beings were compared to me.

So my envy and greed skyrocketed as I realized how successful those stars were compared to me.

That's why I created so many tragic endings for my own original stories. They were reminiscent of my dirty, twisted personality.

I wanted to be unique, special.

Moreover, I wanted to be different, above all.

[Author-san, why don't you just give up this career and go do something else? A mental treatment accompanied by a professional would be good.]

[His works are all horrible. The beginnings are purposefully cheerful and cool, only for the halves and ends to be horrible. Definitely deplorable.]

[Please give up and dream of being something else. You are not fit to be called an "author" like the other individuals on this site.]

[Complete and filthy garbage. Don't read anything from this guy or your eyes will need special treatment for decades to heal.]

Things didn't go as I expected, however.

It didn't take long for people to flood the comment and review sections with negative reports or cursing me.

But I openly accepted it, even if it saddened me immensely.

My main purpose with writing was to get rid of my frustrations, not to please anyone.

"The truth of one, does not determine the beliefs of another individual." I used to repeat that everyday.

Frankly, writing was one of my few known strengths other than studying hard.

Although, to be honest, writing wasn't a skill I was proud to openly say I'd mastered.

What's more, even though initially I was constantly praised by many people for my abilities, soon they were able to see through the sick plots I worked out.

Everything I did was just to build a bloody bath, based on my worldly desires.

So, in the face of so much criticism, I sank deeper and deeper into morbid thoughts and isolated myself from society.

Readers validated my hateful thoughts and made me even more depressed as my professional career held on.

That's why I became more distressed along the way.

I soon noticed: I was just a nobody.

I was not special.

And so when writing about special people with extraordinary gifts and brilliant personalities in beautiful worlds, I refused to give them good endings.

The fact that I wanted to give a unique touch to my stories added to my personal bitterness, quickly led me to thoughtless decisions.

So who knows how many people had died at my hands — of course, talking about my works.

Nonetheless, at this exact point, this wasn't about me: it was about her. The little girl I had helped in the prison.

Why was I talking about the fictional characters I killed, and the reasons behind it, you ask?

Well, if I was right, originally she had just been another victim of my sick plot.

"All preparations are ready, princess. Do you want anything else?"

"N-no. You can rest, I'm feeling better."

Impressively, the girl I spoke to was none other than Juliete Von Markazi, the First Princess of the thriving Markazi Empire.

Basically, the reason I was surprised by this information was not the simple fact that she was a princess, but that she was a princess of the greater Continental Empire.

The great Markazi Empire. The pinnacle of civilization of the species of the Eclipse Alliance.

'This is all very stupid compared to past occasions.' I stated to myself.

This whole situation was like a silly story for a cheap third- or fourth-rate, generic web novel that anyone could write.

First of all, let's say I was actually a prisoner in the Demon King's Castle and truly suffered from amnesia.

So then I started trying to get a crying girl out of her cell without knowing what happened, I comforted her and even gave her something to eat because I felt sorry for her for starving like that.

However, in the end, she ended up being the Imperial Princess who was captured by the Demon King's army!

To make things even weirder, let's say I was rescued along with the so-called Imperial Princess.

So, in view of all I'd done for her, let's suppose she told her subordinates to treat me with the greatest possible respect.

At some point, then, I would receive some reward or something similar.

"Hmm…" I muttered.

Honestly, the best expression that could describe this entire sequence of events was "what a cliché".

People, myself included, would objectively think that this scenario setup was simply too convenient.

However, there was one serious problem with all this: I was not a human Good Samaritan.

I was a demon (the literal Demon Prince) that changed its appearance with low-level cloaking magic.

'More than before, I have to be even more careful not to get hurt with the development of things.' I thought internally.

I had been escorted out of the Demon King's Castle by a fleet of heavily armed soldiers, and I arrived at a place near the garrison commander-in-chief of the Demon Fighting Army.

We were relatively far from the battlefield, but I felt like a cow being taken to the slaughterhouse.

Things had taken off quickly.

It was to the point that countless mages and priests approached the princess and immediately sprang into action.

Perhaps, because of the concern in the princess's eyes, they also took some measures on me.

"Fuuu…" I sighed; my heart beating fast.

To my relief, this body didn't have any unique undead abilities or attributes, so the healing spell that was cast on me didn't do any damage.

Maybe it was because of my royal bloodline, but it was lucky I didn't have a constitution that rejected the holy power of light.

I mean, I already knew that.

Although the Demon King died early on, I made sure to make him immune to holy magic power so that he would be more powerful than ever.

For starters, if it was a problem for me, I wouldn't even have tried to go to the human side of the war.

"Huff!"

With clean water provided by the servants and soldiers on the human side, I was able to begin washing, drying, and cleaning myself of the dirt clinging to my skin.

I was careful not to end up making a mistake and undoing the spell by mistake.

The fear of dying outweighed anything now.

For the record, if a mage cast a spell to dispel curses on me, it would all be over. The Camouflage would be removed instantly, and then I would be immediately surrounded by human Allies.

Fortunately, I found that a large number of troops were placed on guard at the Demon King's Castle.

What's more, it seemed difficult enough for them just to care for and watch the princess, as there were many bleeding and injured people among the human forces.

Besides, there were many mages slaughtered there.

They seemed to have been the main targets of the demons' retaliation, as they were a powerful backup.

"A cunning move." I admitted. "But they were already destined to lose."

My thoughts flew in an invisible bubble through my head, making me more and more intrigued by it all.

There were a lot of worries that made me gasp with nervousness, but there was something more important now.

The main question was, was Juliet naturally good-natured or did she somehow like me?

"Please take care of this person." She told everyone in the tents. "He is my benefactor and a hero of the Empire."

My efforts had paid off, at least. It hadn't been a worthless effort to help her.

However, in the end, she cared too much about me. Sincerely, it was weird.

I walked along with Juliet and her fleet of mighty and imposing knights through the camp, and watched them silently.

Despite her own lack of energy and motivation, the girl was constantly instructing Alliance troops to take care of me first.

"Of course, your Majesty."

"As you wish, your highness."

People were waving at her, but then shooting suspiciously glances in my way.

I'd have to admit it: it was strange that a high-ranking noblewoman would demand that a filthy idiot like me get VIP treatment.

Not seeing many options, I bowed to the girl without much thought.

Although I wanted to get stronger and richer enough to avoid the danger of events that would unfold in the future, for now it was best to avoid unnecessary attention.

"I thank you for your concern, Your Highness. However, believe me, I am very healthy. It is best that your health is prioritized above all else."

Technically, I hadn't even done anything special.

I understood that I had been the person who had helped her through her most painful time, but still it was all too easy.

My fear was that this had all been planned by the Reapers, in some mysterious way.

"Y-you see, it must be hard to understand, but you told me you didn't remember anything." She started. "Surely you must have a severe curse on you."

My eyes widened inadvertently. I tried to keep my composure.

"I highly doubt it's that. I mean, I'm sure it's not that. Curse spells tend to leave marks on the target's body, and as the team can already see, there's no trace on me."

I spoke like an expert, because technically I really was. To some extent, that is.

Everything I knew about magic and spells was based on settings I'd worked on for months in my past life, but it would do me good.

"That is…"

Look, I know you're a nice, noble girl, but can't you just give me some space?

Don't you think this is too much for handing you a cookie and talking to you for a while?

Luckily, I was eventually allowed to lie down in a private tent near the barracks after persuading the nursing staff that I was fine.

"Peace…"

Everything looked different from the chaotic scenery inside the castle, however, people looked like they were about to collapse from exhaustion.

I was no different.

To begin with, even though it had only been a few hours, I had never felt so exhausted.

My shoulders ached just from the weight of the pile of worries accumulated so far.

"Ugh…"

I lay down on the makeshift bed in the tent, and felt like I'd escaped a dangerous forest only to jump off a cliff.

At least the system had good news for me.

[The user was able to fulfill the mission requirements!]

[Special event "To Survive" has been completed without fail.]

[User received 100 Conquest Points as a reward for completing the quest.]

I closed my eyes after reading the floating holographic windows and sighed.

A genuine smile spread across my face for the first time in this world.

Somehow, I had gotten past the first hurdle, but from here on out, without a doubt, things would get more difficult.

"I need to prepare…"

From now on, I would need methods to strengthen myself. And it was necessary to be fast.