The Day I, a Demon King's General, Received a Blessing - Vow Beneath the Rubble

The sunset dyed everything red. 　No—it wasn't just the sky that was red. The rubble spreading at her feet, the piled stone grave markers, and even her own hands were all stained the same color. 　Celestia knelt down and placed the last handful of earth over the small hole. 　The feel of the soil against her hands was still somehow warm. A sickening warmth, as if it remembered the afternoon sun. 　She kept her palm pressed against the earth for a long moment. 　(...With this, I wonder if they can all rest now) 　She thought that. She could only think that. 　Lined up before her were roughly three hundred small grave markers. All the same size, none bearing a name. Simple things, just piled stones. 　At the very end of the row was a new grave, the one she had just finished burying. 　What slept inside was neither a body nor bones. 　It was only a charred right arm. 　That arm had belonged to an old brownie woman. 　Celestia slowly wiped the dirt from her fingertips with a rag as she gazed at the grave. 　(The song you taught me—that song surely remains only in my heart now) 　The wind blew. 　It was a wind that seemed to gaze from afar upon the crumbling remains of the fortress. 　This was the eastern foot of the Gardea Mountains. The site of Verza Fortress, where a frontline stronghold of the Demon King's army had once stood. 　A hundred and twenty kilometers southeast of the town of Axel. Including the mountain paths, it was a remote place that took five days to reach on foot. 　She had been alive there until a month ago. 　Celestia shed no tears. 　She had already cried all she could over that month. She knew all too well that crying changed nothing. 　She stood up, and with the sunset at her back, took a single step forward. 　At her feet, a piece of rubble crumbled with a sound. 　—One month earlier. 　About three hundred monsters had lived in this fortress. 　Celestia was one of them. No—not so much one of them as someone who stood here as a protector. 　She was a general of the Demon King's army. 　The Demon King's army. A military organization of monsters, with the Demon King at its apex. There were eight generals in total. Among them, she was the lowest-ranked—an unusual female knight. 　She hadn't been chosen for combat strength. She had been chosen for governance. In other words, she was a general meant to unite the weak monsters, protect them, and sustain their way of life. 　Verza Fortress was home to many monsters who couldn't fight. 　About eighty brownies. A small humanoid race standing roughly sixty centimeters tall, skilled at housework and gentle of heart. 　About fifty mossgrins. Extremely timid monsters that mimicked moss, trembling and pretending to be stones whenever people approached. 　About thirty hydrals. Aquatic monsters skilled at regulating river flow, living quietly in the rivers around the fortress. 　And those who could fight numbered only thirty. Just a scant few combat personnel, including Celestia. 　Even so, that place had been warm. 　There was a small vegetable garden in the courtyard. 　Vegetables the brownies had raised with devoted care. Morning dew water carried by the mossgrins. River water regulated by the hydrals, flowing into the garden. 　In the evenings, everyone would come out to the courtyard and watch the sunset. 　Celestia had loved that garden. 　The smell of the soil. The sound of vegetable leaves rustling. The everyday sight of a brownie child who had been helping out tripping on the dirt and bursting into tears—all of it. 　She had smiled back then. 　So much so that now she could no longer remember how to smile. 　(I should stop remembering) 　Celestia touched the hilt of her sword. 　The sword hidden beneath her traveling clothes. Her fingers gripping the hilt turned white. 　(If I remember, my feet will stop) 　She was walking along a mountain path. 　Navel Pass in the Gardea Mountains. A great mountain pass dividing the human realm from the monster realm. 　Right now, she should have looked like a human traveler. 　Disguise magic. A simple spell for monsters to take human form. It wasn't something that could be maintained indefinitely. About six hours of continuous use. Any longer, and the drain on her mana would become severe, and the disguise would peel away. 　Celestia had transformed herself into an utterly ordinary human woman. 　Her deep crimson hair appeared as a colorless brown under the spell. Her warrior's build was slightly altered in impression to look like a traveler carrying luggage. 　Even so, nothing inside her had changed. 　She pressed a hand to her chest. 　Beneath her clothes, the magic crest carved into the center of her chest throbbed dully. 　The Volkar Contract. A crest carved only into generals, signifying loyalty to the Demon King. 　Through this crest, mana was supplied from the Demon King's domain. 　That was what kept her alive even now. 　(...Should I be grateful for that?) 　She didn't think so. 　This pain was, if anything, convenient. 　Every time it throbbed, she could remember. 　That day. 　What she had to do. 　—What happened that day? 　Celestia's eyes glowed faintly red. 　Beneath the twilight sky, she walked alone along the mountain path of Navel Pass. 　That day, the sky had been blue. 　No—it had changed from blue to white in an instant. 　Explosion magic. 　The highest-tier attack magic. One of the most vicious attacks in this world, gathering immense mana into a single point and blasting an ultra-wide area. 　The castle wall was blown away. 　"—!" 　She didn't even know if a voiceless scream had escaped her throat. 　Reincarnators. 　Human dead sent from another world by the goddess Aqua. 　It was a surprise attack by five of them. 　Celestia had been fighting on the front lines. She had been desperately holding off the three reincarnators who came from the front, together with the combat personnel. 　Swinging her sword, shouting, deflecting magic, trying to protect her comrades. 　But that had been a diversion. 　A separate unit. The remaining two had infiltrated the fortress from the rear and slaughtered the non-combatant monsters—the brownies and mossgrins who couldn't fight—one after another. 　She heard screams. 　The terrified voices of small monsters who had lost their escape routes. 　Celestia turned around. 　She turned and tried to go back. 　At that moment, a second explosion spell fell. 　Light filled her vision. The ground shook, the air burned, and a blast of heat struck her entire body. 　The fortress's stone walls crumbled with a roar. 　She was buried beneath them. 　In the darkness, she heard the sound of burning. 　The sound of buildings collapsing. Screams. Crying. Voices fading away. 　(Move... move...!) 　She couldn't move. 　Rubble pressed down on her back; she couldn't move a single finger. 　(Everyone... is dying) 　All she could do was listen. 　—How long had she been like that? 　The heavy rubble shifted. 　Someone was trying to drag her out. 　"Lady Celestia... this way" 　It was one of the combatants. 　A young lizardman warrior. His body was battered, yet he desperately pushed aside the rubble. 　"Let go! I have to—I have to save everyone!" 　She screamed that. 　He smiled. 　"Everyone... is already... But please, you must live." 　The next moment. 　A hole opened in the wall behind him. 　Light streaked through. 　Something pierced the lizardman warrior's back. 　"—Ah" 　His blood splattered across Celestia's face. 　The young warrior collapsed where he stood. 　Having dragged Celestia out of the rubble, he fell over her as if to shield her with his own body. 　He no longer moved. 　Celestia didn't remember much of what came after. 　She walked through a sea of fire. 　Through the burned garden, past the collapsed barracks, between comrades who would never rise again. 　In a corner of the courtyard, an old brownie woman lay fallen. 　Charred beyond recognition. 　But she recognized the right hand. 　That wrinkled, gentle hand. 　The hand that had taught her songs. 　Celestia buried that hand in the earth. 　And so, a month passed. 　She descended the mountain path and emerged onto the highway. 　The twilight sky was beginning to shift to purple. 　Celestia walked on alone. 　The magic crest on her chest throbbed. 　The mana from the Demon King's domain was still trying to keep her body alive, even as she tried to distance herself from it. 　(...Even if I leave, I won't die) 　The crest was also a proof of loyalty. 　But her loyalty was no longer directed toward the Demon King. 　This was a journey for herself. 　"Hey there, miss—traveling alone? Where are you headed?" 　A merchant driving a wagon along the highway called out to her. 　Celestia looked up. 　A middle-aged, heavyset merchant. His covered wagon was loaded with cloth and sacks of wheat. 　"Yes, to the town of Axel." 　"Oh, Axel! Perfect timing—I'm heading back there myself. Hop on if you'd like." 　Celestia hesitated for a moment, then nodded. 　It would be far faster than walking. And she could gather information. 　The wagon swayed. 　The sound of wheels biting into the earth continued rhythmically. 　The merchant was talkative. 　"Axel, you see, is a town for beginner adventurers. There's an adventurer's guild there—about four hundred adventurers registered, they say." 　"Adventurer's guild." 　"That's right. It doubles as a tavern, and it's lively as can be. Lately, hunting down Demon King's army remnants has been all the rage." 　Celestia tightened her grip on the edge of the wagon. 　"...Remnant hunting." 　"Yeah. Seems the reincarnators have been doing great work. A party led by a man named Kazuma took down a bunch of Demon King's army types today and earned themselves a bounty." 　Kazuma. 　A name she was hearing for the first time. 　"Man, reincarnators really are something. It's that blessing thing, I guess. Flash of light, and the enemy goes boom, right? It's a real pleasure to watch." 　The merchant was laughing. 　Hidden in the shadows of the cargo bags, Celestia's eyes alone gleamed. 　(...Blessing) 　That light. 　(...That was no blessing) 　She could feel the depths of her heart growing cold. 　"Look, you can see it now." 　Celestia peered outside through a gap in the wagon's cover. 　She could see the city walls. 　The town of Axel. 　Stone walls six meters high, with two gates—a south gate and a north gate. About four thousand people lived within. 　"Could you let me off near the south gate? I'm meeting a friend there." 　"Sure thing." 　She got off the wagon in front of the gate. 　Giving the merchant a slight bow, Celestia melted into the crowd. 　The sky was already night. 　Slipping past the gate guards' eyes, she walked toward the eastern district. 　(East district... near the cemetery...) 　She traced the information she had gathered beforehand through her mind. 　Her destination was an abandoned building at the eastern edge of town, near the public cemetery. 　She arrived at the site of a dye workshop that had gone out of business over ten years ago. 　A two-story building, all its windows boarded up. 　Celestia probed her surroundings for presences. No sign of people. Only the sound of night insects. 　Without making a sound, she entered through the back entrance. 　The smell of dust stung her nose. 　The inside of the building was more spacious than she had expected. The first floor had apparently been a workshop. Old tubs and rotted shelves lay scattered about. 　Celestia found the entrance to the basement. 　She descended the stairs. 　Each step made the wood creak. 　The underground storage room was large enough to fit two adults. 　She lowered the pack from her back. 　Out came a small lantern, a gnarled sword, and a roll of cloth. 　Celestia knelt on the ground and lit the lantern. 　Orange light illuminated the basement walls. 　The walls were black with soot. 　(...This will be my base) 　She wiped a section of the wall with her palm. 　Then, taking out the charcoal she had

日本語

What is Novelia? →

Episode 1

Name: The Day I, a Demon King's General, Received a Blessing
Author: Novelia

What is Novelia?

Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.

Learn more about Novelia →New sign-ups get 5,000pt