Chapter 21: The Lifted Veil

The room was excellent.

It couldn’t compare to the Demon King’s castle, but that was on a completely different level anyway, so I pushed that thought aside, inwardly sighing in admiration as I strode towards the window.

Three moons lined up in the sky outside the window.

‘It’s still daytime.’

Broad daylight at that.

Of course, there was no sun in the Demon Realm, but that didn’t mean there was no distinction between day and night.

Looking at the three moons in the sky, it was easy to tell.

When the three moons were lined up horizontally, it was daytime; when they overlapped and looked like one, it was nighttime.

Right now, they were in a row, so it was daytime.

‘So what if it’s daytime? Day drinking has its own charm.’

I threw off the stuffy robe and casually checked the clothes I was wearing. They looked simple and practical for movement.

I could go out like this.

Up until this point, I was so excited that I overlooked one very important fact.

“Absolutely not.”

“This city is one we ‘must protect.’ Are you planning to turn it into a mess?”

The fact that I had two damned stalkers.

…Damn it!

***

“This is the commander of the 9th Corps?”

“Yes, it is.”

Jaykar stared down at the corpse with cold, sunken eyes.

He was currently at the front lines.

The Demon King, sensing something amiss when contact with the 9th Corps commander was lost, had dispatched reinforcements in a hurry, but the situation was already beyond saving.

The 9th Corps commander was dead.

‘This is the 9th Corps commander?’

The reason he referred to the body of someone who had once been a living being and a comrade as ‘this’ was understandable.

A corpse so mangled that it was hard to recognize its original form.

More like a lump of flesh, it was ‘placed’ inside a crudely made coffin that looked hastily put together.

“His neck was snapped on the first, no, the second blow, and after that, he was trampled by hooves?”

“…”

“What were you doing that you couldn’t even recover your superior’s body?”

“We apologize.”

Jaykar’s expression was grim as he looked at what was left of the 9th Corps commander.

It wasn’t because of the brutality. He himself had committed far more brutal acts.

It wasn’t even because the loss of the 9th Corps commander meant a significant drop in fighting power. While that certainly had an impact, there was a bigger problem.

“Commander of the 1st Corps! The enemy!”

“…Again?”

The enemy’s offensive was stronger than predicted.

He couldn’t help but sigh.

With nothing much to prepare, Jaykar secured the sword at his hip and exited the tent.

He was a mess in the sunlight.

Blood spattered all over his body, bits of flesh clinging to him.

He had to jump into battle as soon as he arrived, without even a moment to unpack.

Even after wielding his sword so relentlessly, he had barely managed to put out the immediate fires. The situation was dire enough that they were facing another battle now.

It was all because of one human.

One of the Empire’s prized trump cards who had appeared on this battlefield without any warning.

Had any of the other corps commanders come here instead of him, except for perhaps the 0th Legion commander, they would have been helplessly pushed back.

Crack.

“…Request reinforcements from the Demon King.”

His voice, low and grim, sounded as if he was forcefully suppressing his emotions.

He hated to admit it, but he had to.

He couldn’t lose his soldiers because of pointless pride.

“A ‘true hero’ has appeared, and the 9th Corps commander is dead.”

His task now was simple: to stall for time until reinforcements arrived.

…Until their side’s ‘joker’ came to wipe them out.

Thinking of Demon Hart, the 0th Legion commander, who should be in the city right now, Jaykar glared murderously at the异质 존재[iji jeonjae – dissimilar being] rampaging among the sheep.

***

It had been two days since I arrived here, and I hadn’t been able to touch a drop of alcohol.

The reason was simple. There weren’t just one, but two guys who were incredibly good at fighting, sticking to me like glue and watching me all day!

Damn those guys.

Completely fed up with Ed and Ben’s relentless stalking, I indifferently scanned the cards in my hand and said casually,

“I’m pretty sure I told you I wanted to be left alone.”

“Yes, we clearly heard that.”

“The legion members were pleased to hear it.”

“So, that ‘alone time’ includes you two, you know.”

“We have orders never to leave your side.”

“I’m here for your protection….”

Damn it!

I irritably slammed the cards down and swept the gold coins piled in front of me, feeling annoyed.

The guy sitting across from me clutched his head, but I had long since run out of patience to care about that.

“Then at least let Ed go.”

“The escort…”

“Ben alone is enough.”

Please just leave.

I felt suffocated. Didn’t I have any privacy?!

My insides were burning. This must be anger. I quickly shifted my gaze to the mountain of gold coins piled beside me.

‘Ah…’

My mind calmed down.

All of that is mine. I won’t have to worry about money for a while.

‘Not that I’m actually that short on cash….’

Still, there’s such a thing as feeling good.

I contentedly stroked the gold coins beside me with my eyes, leaned back in my chair, and crossed my legs.

As you can probably guess, I was currently in a gambling den.

Originally, I had intended to drink away my anxiety about the monsters, but since I was being kept from that, I came to a gambling den for the first time as a minor act of rebellion….

“You’ve won again.”

“You’re truly amazing.”

Why was I winning so much?

Could I just quit everything I was doing and live comfortably just going from gambling table to gambling table?

‘…Should I really quit my job?’

I must have been winning an awful lot. The way the people in the gambling den looked at me had changed subtly from the beginning.

Especially the guy sitting across from me.

“How about we call it a night and I’ll count this as a loss?”

Hold on a second. Let’s get our terms right.

It’s not ‘counting it as a loss,’ it *is* a loss.

But there was no need to argue over such things, so I chuckled and nodded.

Since the game was over, I was sweeping the gold coins into the pouch that Ed had subtly handed me from behind when the guy who had been playing against me sidled over and offered me the glass of alcohol he was holding.

“You’re really something, you know that? Did you use some kind of trick? Oh, don’t take it the wrong way. I’m just admiring how good you are.”

“I didn’t exactly use any tricks… This is…”

“Ah, I was originally going to drink this myself, but I lost, didn’t I? My appetite’s gone, so how about the winner has a drink?”

“Absolutely not.”

That wasn’t me who said that.

Those damned stalker bastards…!

Come to think of it, Ed hadn’t left yet. Why was he still here? Didn’t I tell him to go?

As I tied the pouch of swept-up gold coins to my waist, I raised my head to glare at Ed.

…Though the moment our eyes met, I lost my resolve, but still.

“Ed, didn’t I tell you to leave?”

“But… for your safety….”

“Safety? When we came here, Ben was fighting incredibly well, you know.”

He was practically a berserker.

That was why I hadn’t wanted to be alone with him, but after being tormented by these two for two days, my mind had changed.

At this rate, I might become the berserker. I needed to get rid of at least one of them quickly.

“…Uh….”

Ed hesitated, his head bowed.

I glanced at Ben, who was looking at Ed with a triumphant expression.

Now’s my chance!

Very naturally, as if picking up a glass of water, I grabbed the drink. And before Ed or Ben could pay attention to me, I quickly spoke.

“Ben has to stay, but Ed, you can rest. You must have been through a lot, so why don’t you take a break here? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“……”

“Yes?”

“…Understood.”

He turned away, looking dejected.

A handsome man looking gloomy might seem pitiable to some….

‘Pitiable, my ass.’

I felt a sense of relief.

What impact could a gloomy look from another man, not even a potential lover, have?

I brought the glass to my lips with a victor’s smile.

‘…?’

And paused.

I stopped my hand just before the liquid touched my lips.

At the same time, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, Ed whipped around to look at me. Our eyes met, and I froze with the glass still in my hand.

“……”

“…Ha, haha.”

His gaze was cold, filled with disappointment.

Ben’s gaze, which had been on Ed, also turned back to me.

Under their piercing stares that shifted between the glass in my hand and my face, I had no choice but to awkwardly put the glass down.

“…I was just going to smell it.”

“Yes, we believe you.”

“……”

“Still, just in case, we must reiterate that we are here for the safety of the city. Please refrain from drinking as much as possible.”

“Yeeees….”

I get it, so just piss off already.

I waved my hand dismissively, conveying my intention.

Perhaps my meaning was clear, as Ed, looking dejected again, trudged away, and Ben, who had been silent, brought up the words I had been hearing ad nauseam.

“Did you hear that? So, please move the glass away.”

“Yeees, I understand. I was going to do that anyway.”

I pushed the glass away with my fingertip while leaning back, and his expression subtly changed.

As if he was saying, ‘What’s this?’ What kind of image did he have of me?

My mood soured.

I abruptly turned my head away from Ben and looked at the guy who had offered me the drink.

He looked at me with a questioning expression. Meeting his seemingly harmless gaze, I slowly said with a sullen expression,

“I do like alcohol, but I’m not too fond of drugs.”

“……!”

Thought it would be hidden by the smell of alcohol?

Even with this appearance, I’m incredibly good at distinguishing the smell of drugs.

Why? Because I’ve experienced it far too much.

So, I can say with certainty. There are two types of narcotics in this glass.

Probably something like a sleeping pill or a paralytic. It must have narcotic components due to the focus on effectiveness.

A drink with side effects that completely disregards the person consuming it. He was holding onto this to drink himself?

“You were planning to use it when you lost from the start, weren’t you?”

“…….”

His face turned pale.

Silence descended upon the noisy gambling den.

‘Drugs’ were a sensitive issue that could potentially cause people to stop coming to this gambling den altogether. Everyone’s attention was focused here.

“Wh-what are you talking about? Drugs?”

The silence weighed heavily on him.

Amidst the gazes of countless eyes, the choice the man, who was sweating profusely, made was:

“W-what are you talking about? Drugs?”

In a word, it was a blunder.

Denying it when the evidence was right in front of him, how foolish.

As expected, Ben, who had been seething with anger beside me, mercilessly delivered the checkmate with a heavily suppressed voice.

“Then you can just drink it yourself.”

“…….”

Game over. I clicked my tongue softly at the sight of the man biting his lip, unable to say anything. What an idiot.

Well, being this stupid, he would try to drug someone who had companions.

He probably intended to steal my money pouch while Ben was carrying my unconscious body, or if caught, try to exploit me as a hostage, but the target was the Demon King’s personal physician.

Ah, saying personal physician doesn’t feel right, let me correct that to berserker.

The Demon King’s berserker. Doesn’t that sound more formidable? Trying to use such a shallow trick on him was laughable from our perspective.

I pushed back my chair and slowly stood up.

Either way, I had won a significant amount of money, and I hadn’t drunk the drugged alcohol, so I hadn’t exactly lost anything.

Not wanting to escalate the issue further, I tried to leave quietly….

Crash!

Even faster than that, an incident broke out.