Kaiser.
The residents here… No, perhaps no one across the entirety of the Demon Empire would be unfamiliar with that name.
About twenty years ago, before the Demon Emperor began calling himself an emperor, a human hero appeared.
He descended suddenly from the barren north, sweeping away the demon army that blocked his path single-handedly and turning the entire continent into a sea of flames.
Wherever Kaiser passed, not a blade of grass was left; the places became desolate ruins.
Naturally, the people living on that land also perished, leaving no one alive to witness his departure.
A hero’s journey to defeat the Demon King…
Kaiser’s journey was far from that ordinary concept.
It was a continuous spree of indiscriminate slaughter.
Around that time, Kaiser began to be referred to by another name among the demons.
A name embodying fear and reverence, signifying an unstoppable catastrophe—
The strongest, the most terrible hero.
With his overwhelming power, the madness of his conquest finally reached Trasion, his ultimate destination.
There, he committed the atrocity of destroying half the capital before engaging in a final battle with the Demon Emperor.
The fierce bloodbath was a deadlock where neither side could gain the upper hand.
The battle, which shook the heavens and the earth, finally ended with the Demon Emperor’s victory.
Defeated and unable to fulfill his mission, Kaiser, the worst hero, was handed over to the people.
He met a gruesome end, executed with the harshest sentence.
Now, the name of that dreadful hero has become a kind of taboo, something people are cautious even to utter.
These are the details I know about him—
The downfall of a hero who deserved death, the glorious victory of the Demon Emperor.
Though it involved many sacrifices, it’s ultimately just a tale of the past.
But something felt strange.
For some reason, ever since I heard the story of that hero, my emotions started spiraling out of control.
Unidentifiable emotional turbulence, an inexplicable disturbance in my heart.
Those humans becoming like that? It’s only natural.
They committed the grave sin of mourning that demonic hero.
The demon gentleman’s inability to hide his anger earlier? That’s also natural, as a citizen of Trasion who still remembers those events.
I understood it logically, but my emotions reacted as if they were a separate being, amplifying the confusion.
And then, as if to make things worse, a sudden sensation of my head splitting, overwhelming noise filling my vision, and a sharp ringing in my ears.
It was impossible to think this state was normal.
Almost reflexively, I recalled the incident when I first entered the commercial district.
‘Could the temporary noise from back then be related to what I’m experiencing now?’
The rational suspicion crossed my mind, but even if true, it didn’t provide a decisive clue to escape this situation.
‘Please… stop, stop!! I can’t take this anymore!’
Far from improving, my condition worsened with time.
As I teetered on the brink of losing consciousness in this dire moment, I squeezed my eyes shut and desperately prayed for this to subside.
***
Amidst the dizzying ringing, a conversation from nearby reached my ears.
“I have a friend in the law enforcement division. He says there’s a good chance ‘those guys’ are behind this incident.”
“‘Those guys’? Who in their right mind would aid in something so insane?”
“I can’t quite remember, but it’s them—those guys! They appeared when that monster invaded this land, then were supposedly wiped out entirely. But recently, I saw in the papers that remnants of them have resurfaced.”
Even through the cacophony, the words of the quiet voice came through clearly.
Alongside them, an enigmatic scene replayed in my head.
[While we’re at it, should we craft a new…?]
[Please, just—! Sir, to think… imagining it’s truly—! And there’s a certain value to it.]
[Absolutely! Announcing this to that demon-like—!]
The blurry figures in my hazy vision radiated anticipation as they stared intently in my direction.
I couldn’t make out their faces.
Yet somehow, they felt strangely familiar, as if I’d seen them somewhere before.
Amidst their eager reactions, the central figure scratched his head, seeming troubled but not entirely displeased.
Soon, after scanning the figures before him, he finally spoke.
“Familie.”
“Familie…”
“Yes! Familie—that’s it! I knew I remembered it. But wait… Who just said that?”
The demon gentleman reacted triumphantly as he recalled the name.
But when he realized it wasn’t his companion who had answered, he looked around suspiciously.
Quickly, I slipped into the crowd of onlookers and fled the area.
To escape the parade of prisoners that dragged me down like a specter from the depths, I ran aimlessly, desperate to put as much distance as possible between me and that place.
It felt as though someone was chasing me, and I sprinted mindlessly.
My condition only began to stabilize after what felt like a very long time.
‘…Haa.’
Somewhere in a deserted alley on the outskirts of the commercial district, away from the glow of the shop lights, I sat curled up, hugging my knees and burying my face.
I slowly raised my head after sitting still for a long while.
Fortunately, once I left that area and some time had passed, my condition returned to normal.
The irritating noise that had filled my vision and the sharp ringing in my ears had completely disappeared, leaving no trace.
But the memory of that moment hadn’t faded.
My mind was still in turmoil, trying to make sense of the inexplicable phenomenon.
The image of the human prisoner in their horrifying state on the cross.
The fierce reaction of the demon gentleman when he learned the details of the incident.
The overwhelming physical response that engulfed me as if waiting for that very moment.
And most importantly, the distorted memory of a conversation with unfamiliar humans that surfaced during it all.
From start to finish, everything was incomprehensible.
It was hard to dismiss all this as a mere temporary malfunction, as there were too many unexplained aspects.
Now that I had regained some clarity, I cautiously speculated that it might have something to do with my fragmented memories.
***
Ten years ago, when I was about to be discarded as a defective product, Lady Yuria saved me.
Since that moment, I had virtually no memory of anything before it.
If there was any suspicious aspect to all this, it would naturally point to that period in my past.
In the end, the most straightforward way to resolve this situation was to seek Lady Yuria’s help.
After all, Mark had once mentioned that Lady Yuria’s “special ability” was the reason I existed in my current form.
But despite reaching that conclusion, I had been crouching here, paralyzed.
I was afraid.
‘What if Lady Yuria abandons me because I malfunctioned again?’
Even if that didn’t happen, the thought of disappointing her was terrifying enough to weigh heavily on my heart.
Adding to that fear was my stubborn desire to always present myself as the perfect attendant in her eyes.
That was why I remained here, hesitating.
However, now that the sun had completely set and the evening had arrived, I couldn’t keep stalling, especially knowing she might be waiting for me back at the Azure Palace.
The moon, marking the start of the night, had already risen high above.
Pushed by the inevitability of the situation, I finally stood up and let out a deep sigh.
I hadn’t yet decided what to do, but for now, I resolved to return to the palace since my condition had improved.
I convinced myself that I could continue worrying about this once I got back.
Carrying a basket filled with groceries, I prepared to leave the dark alley.
But just as I was about to step forward, I froze.
A shadow blocked my path.
Puzzled, I turned my gaze to face it, only to scowl immediately.
The only exit from the alley was now occupied.
Illuminated faintly by the glow of nearby shop lights, suspicious intruders stood there as if they had been waiting.
They were burly feline beastmen, their menacing expressions and mocking smirks dripping with malice.
Even a quick glance was enough to tell they weren’t ordinary citizens of Trasion.
I narrowed my eyes, immediately recognizing the bad intentions emanating from them.
‘Nothing’s going right today,’ I muttered bitterly to myself, frustration seeping into my thoughts.