Generating a force field beneath my feet, I stood far above the ground.
The wind whipped through, making my robes flutter.
Perhaps because this is a body of bone, I didn't feel the cold very keenly.
Luciana was beside me.
She was cheerfully whistling.
It was a familiar melody.
I think it was the signature piece of some musician.
Luciana seemed well-versed in human culture as well.
Below us lay a desolate townscape.
It was the former capital of a small nation.
It was also the place where we had gained Henry as a comrade.
Though it should have been uninhabited, soldiers could be seen.
They were the Empire's army.
They had unjustly seized this city and were treating it as a de facto part of the Empire.
As expected, they hadn't moved against the region bordering the demon lord's domain, but it seemed they had now brazenly occupied the capital itself.
It was a surprisingly bold move.
Did they want to raise their own national profit that badly?
It was a field I didn't understand.
I didn't even want to understand.
(Conspiring to annihilate small nations for self-interest and seizing the emptied land…)
I shouldn't be the one to say, but it's hardly a humane method. It stands as the polar opposite of what an ideal nation should be.
Luciana was gazing down at the former capital while spinning about cheerfully.
She stopped whistling, then clung to my arm.
"Looking down like this, humans really do seem like little bugs, don't they? I could just crush them. The Demon Lord thinks so too, right?"
"I kill humans, but I don't wish to degrade them. I eliminate them as a necessary measure."
"Ah..."
Luciana let out a slightly dissatisfied sigh.
She turned a steady gaze toward me.
"You're so serious... You'll probably get a hole in your stomach sooner or later."
"Not a hole - it's long since rotted away."
When I replied that, Luciana burst into laughter.
I hadn't meant it as a joke, but apparently it struck a chord with her regardless. Whether that was true or not, it was certainly a more comfortable reaction than having her fuss over me.
"By the way, I heard what you're planning, but is it really possible?"
"On a small scale, yes. I've tested the same spell. As long as there's enough mana, it won't fail."
"That's usually where people get stuck. The Demon Lord truly is... outside all normal standards."
Luciana exaggeratedly shrugged her shoulders.
What she was referring to was connected to the reason we'd come to this place.
Her skepticism was understandable; even I, when still alive, would never have conceived of it.
It is precisely because it is absolutely impossible.
Though, it is something that can be realized now.
One might call it a privilege granted to the current Demon Lord.
"First, flatten this area. Watch out for the backlash."
"Yessir~"
Luciana hopped away from me at a distance, fortifying her defense with magic.
At that level of intensity, she should be fine.
Having confirmed as much, I began constructing the spell formula.
A magic circle materialized before my outstretched hands.
The circle rotated slowly, gradually picking up speed.
When the rotation reached its peak, countless black fireballs burst forth from the magic circle.
The fireballs were born at tremendous velocity, plummeting one after another onto the capital's remains.
Like a meteor shower.
Upon striking the ground, each fireball detonated in a massive explosion.
Hundreds—no, thousands of fireballs rained down without pause, ravaging everything in their path.
They pulverized the city, indiscriminately plowing through the entire surrounding region.
A roar like the end of the world drowned out every other sound.
"Hmm, that should do it."
I halted the magic at what seemed like the right moment.
My fingertips had begun melting, crumbling away in tatters.
The burden of the spell.
I hadn't been able to contain the backlash.
This was my fault, my lack of control.
I had to train so I could cast it without a scratch next time.
Reflecting on my mistake, I lowered my gaze to the scene below.
The capital had been reduced to scorched earth.
It had vanished without a trace, nothing remained.
It was indistinguishable from the surrounding wasteland.
The gouged earth rose in thick columns of white smoke.
Luciana, having dispelled her defensive magic, was cheering loudly.
"Well, well, to think the one who hates humanity could be so thorough, I'm impressed. Isn't that a bit much?"
"I don't do things by halves. If I'm going to do something, I see it through completely."
"My, my, the Demon Lord is so diligent. It almost makes me want to take notes."
Luciana lay down in midair, resting her cheek on her hand.
Quite skillful, even in the air like that.
I told her:
"From here on, I need to focus. Do not speak to me until I finish the spell."
"Yessir."
What I was about to cast was a spatial manipulation spell.
An improved version of a similar forbidden curse, where any lapse in concentration was absolutely forbidden.
Destroying the capital's ruins was merely a preliminary step for this purpose.
I weave the spell together while consuming a vast amount of mana.
Soon, I feel a wave of weariness.
It's an adverse reaction from the drastic reduction in mana.
Gritting my teeth, I endure it with concentration, and complete the spell's construction before releasing it.
In the next instant, the expansive scorched earth vanished.
In its place, a lush, cool forest appeared.
Rising at its center was an impossibly colossal tree.
It shed phosphorescent light and radiated a holy aura.
I knew of its existence, but this was my first time seeing the real thing.
My anti-recognition barrier must have been stripped away, revealing it.
For one of the undead, it's quite overwhelming—yet incredibly beautiful.
In other words, this was the World Tree Forest.
The forbidden spatial manipulation spell performed a coordinate substitution.
It cut away the scorched earth that had occupied this location and drew the World Tree Forest, which lay far, far away.
It was a variant of the transfer magic I usually employ.
However, this time, the scale was vastly different.
I pre-drew a boundary line along the World Tree Forest's outer perimeter and executed a precise, safe transfer.
As for the scorched earth I sent over there, I'm unsure of its state, but it doesn't matter if it's broken.
The land was already rendered barren by the black fireballs.
The World Tree Forest, now a territory of the Demon Lord, was isolated from the Royal Capital — and that was the problem.
As long as it remained there, the Imperial Army would always have it in its sights.
That was the reasoning behind relocating it — placing the forest adjacent to the Demon Lord's domain.
From here to the Demon Lord's territory was roughly half a day's journey.
Placing them too close together risked friction between the two.
Given both sides' circumstances, this distance seemed about right.
If the abandoned territories along the route were developed, travel itself would become easier.
It should also make the region more defensible against the surrounding nations.
When I checked with detection magic, I found the village was occupied by elves.
They had apparently been transferred successfully as well.
The spell had performed without a hitch.
"Wow... I can't believe it. You actually pulled it off."
Luciana gasped in admiration.
Though I thought I sensed a hint of unease.
As someone who wielded magic herself, she could scarcely believe what was unfolding before her eyes.
As I descended the force-field stairs, I turned to Luciana.
"I'm going to tell the elven chief what's happened. Care to come along?"
"Yes, I think I will. He's a friend of yours, right, Dwight? I'd love to meet him."
Luciana followed along, for some reason practically buzzing with excitement.
Logan wasn't exactly the most charming of men.
I doubted I could hope for the kind of conversation she might expect, but pointing that out would be tasteless. How the two of them would interact was something to look forward to. And so, I came to possess both the elven clan and the World Tree Forest.