Chapter 354: Reflections and Gratitude

When Deon Hart was recruited into the Demon King’s army, some demons had their doubts.

“He stopped the Hero’s self-destruction with his own body, which is impressive, sure, but does that really warrant creating a whole new position just for him—Commander of the 0th Legion?”

No one was complaining about giving him a legion commander position since he’d appeared by killing one. It implied he was at least that capable. But couldn’t they have just offered him the 13th Legion Commander position instead?

Did this human really have the skill and worth to sit above even the 1st Corps Commander?

Their doubts were soon resolved.

***

A welcoming banquet was held for the new legion commander, ‘Demon Hart.’

It was customary for banquets to include alcohol, and considering Deon might not be accustomed to Demon Realm liquor, the Demon King, with a sweet smile, raided the 5th Corps Commander Oel’s warehouse to bring Human Realm alcohol for him.

Oel was grumbling with a sulky face on one side, and her adjutant Derniban was trying to appease her, but naturally, no one paid them any mind.

“Here, drink up.”

“Ah… Thank you.”

He accepted the glass, but he couldn’t help but wonder if this type of alcohol might be harmful to humans. Deon eyed the liquor suspiciously.

He’d heard it was Human Realm alcohol, but he wasn’t naive enough to believe it outright. He examined the color to see if it matched the alcohol he knew, and even cautiously sniffed it before finally confirming it was indeed familiar liquor. He took a small sip of the liquid.

“Oh.”

It had been ages since he last had a drink.

Surrounded by demons on all sides, his heart had shrunk to the size of a pea, making him feel like he was about to die. This timely offer of alcohol was perfect. Knowing it was Human Realm liquor, there was no reason to refuse.

Deon deliberately downed drink after drink in quick succession, as if trying to escape reality and avoid being conscious of his surroundings.

“You’re a good drinker. Want more?”

“Yes.”

And then, his consciousness abruptly cut off.

──Or so he ‘thought.’

‘Surely, my alcohol tolerance is…’

…not so low that I’d get drunk this easily.

Deon tilted his glass with an expressionless face.

The wall separating memories, built with alcohol and drugs, weakened again with alcohol and drugs. In other words, this was just the two sets of memories mixing together as the weakened wall crumbled. Deon Hart, who ‘remembered everything,’ calmly distinguished between what he should and shouldn’t remember in his mind, quietly gazing at the liquid refilling his empty glass.

‘…….’

Sensing the change in atmosphere, the Demon King, who had been offering him drinks, paused.

Red pupils, noticing this, subtly glanced sideways, met the Demon King’s gaze, and narrowed into a thin crescent. A sinister air laced the smile.

‘Don’t worry.’

Eyes flashing with an eerie light spoke silently.

‘I have no intention of fighting you.’

There was no point in fighting when there was nothing to gain and he was sure to die. Besides, he had ended up in the Demon King’s army anyway.

He shook his glass as if showing off, towards the Demon King who was subtly observing him.

‘I just want to drink quietly, so I’d appreciate it if you’d leave me alone.’

‘…….’

The Demon King’s eyes narrowed with interest.

Deon pretended not to notice, turning his head away and quietly sipping his alcohol. He knew he would soon exceed his limit, but he didn’t care this time.

The Demon King was here. Judging by his reaction, he seemed to have noticed something. Even if he couldn’t stay by his side the whole time, he wouldn’t let him out of his sight. If something were to happen, he would surely step in to minimize the damage.

…It was definitely not because he was happy to have alcohol after so long.

“Demon, are you going to drink more?”

“Yes.”

“You’re about to finish your fifth bottle… Well, if you’re alright with it.”

Saying he was worried while his eyes gleamed with interest.

The Demon King, seemingly wanting to look around elsewhere, got up from his seat, left a word to enjoy himself, and moved away. Deon, following him with his eyes as he moved only within his field of vision as expected, glanced down at the newly picked-up glass.

‘Is this the fifth bottle?’

Whatever.

He downed the glass without hesitation.

…This time, his memory truly cut off.

***

Deon Hart had to survive.

On the battlefield, the young and weak are the first to die. In a space where you either kill or be killed, he was always out of his mind, clinging to the barest thread of reason, doing his best to distinguish between friend and foe and attack.

He thought and moved like that for eight years straight.

‘Who is the enemy?’

Exactly.

“Yoooou, are you the enemyyyy?”

In the current situation where his mind was clouded, just like back then, it was perhaps natural that he tried to distinguish between friend and foe out of habit.

***

“Yoooou, are you the enemyyyy?”

The new legion commander, drunk on alcohol, was asking if they were the enemy.

“No, I am not.”

“Thennn… are youuu…?”

…….

Even if they answered no, it wasn’t long before he asked again as if he’d forgotten.

After repeatedly answering several times, irritation inevitably surged. However, the demons knew they would lose if they fought against a legion commander, so no matter how many times he asked, they had no choice but to answer obediently.

“…I told you, I am not.”

“Reaally…?”

The problem was the other legion commanders.

Even though he was the Commander of the 0th Legion, he was still just another legion commander, so there was no reason to bow down to him. Unlike the 1st Corps Commander Jaykar, who had personally overwhelmed others with his skill, there was one short-tempered legion commander who was particularly displeased with his recruitment and finally snapped in irritation.

“Will you just stop already!”

“Yoooou, are you the enemyyy?”

“You son of a…”

In any case, this was a welcoming banquet to celebrate ‘Demon Hart’ joining the Demon King’s army. Clashing with the protagonist of such a banquet would only be a loss for them.

Knowing that, he had endured as much as he could… but this was the limit.

Could a legion commander who lived as he pleased from the start even have patience? He nervously shook off the hands reaching out from all directions as if to stop him and answered the other party with a sardonic tone.

“Yeah! I’m the enemy! What are you gonna do about it?!”

“……Really?”

!

Chills.

A bad feeling ran down his spine in an instant.

…The atmosphere changed drastically. Red pupils, as clear as if he had never been drunk, stared intently at him, filled with madness and malice.

No sooner had he noticed this than his instincts warned him, and he took a step back… but it was already too late.

Pshuk!

“Cough…!”

‘Demon Hart,’ who had closed the distance in an instant, thrust a dagger—he didn’t even notice when he’d drawn it—into his vitals.

‘Just now, what…….’

Movements so fast that most of the demons present, even those who were confident in their combat abilities, had missed the moment.

Deon, having charged in and pinned his opponent down, straddling him, grinned broadly and pulled out the dagger. His instincts, which had grasped that everyone around was a target to be wary of and understood the strength of the opponent before him, used the best method to seize the initiative in the current situation.

A hacking spree ensued.

As if having discarded even the minimum sense of morality, the dagger plunged down at the opponent who couldn’t even move anymore. Faces, necks, chests—he indiscriminately hacked away, causing even the demons watching to recoil in horror.

In the space that had become so silent that even the sound of clothes brushing could be heard, a hand reached out belatedly to stop him.

Shwaak!

…No, it had reached out and then quickly retreated.

The Demon King, looking at his long-slashed sleeve, looked down at Deon with eyes full of interest. Deon was already kneeling, aiming his dagger at the Demon King.

Red pupils, stained with malice, gleamed eerily.

“Yoooou, are you the enemyyy?”

“Of course not.”

“Enemyyy, you sayyy?”

“No.”

“Then don’t interfere.”

He warned in a clear voice and once again raised his weapon towards the already dead body.

The Demon King watched him for a moment, then glanced down at Deon’s legs and opened his mouth with clear intent.

“Looks like we’ll have to end the welcoming banquet here for now.”

We’ll have to do it again next time without alcohol.

Those who understood the meaning of his words began to step back one by one. Even the servants who had to clean up left their places entirely. The Demon King, who had remained silent, waiting for everyone to leave, reached out his hand to Deon only after the two of them were left alone.

Deon swung his dagger in response, but the range of motion from a kneeling position was limited. Easily catching the dagger and throwing it aside, the Demon King grabbed Deon’s arm as if helping him up.

“I knew it…….”

A dry voice echoed.

“Your legs are broken.”

No wonder he showed speed that no human could achieve.

He had used ‘that’ technique. A technique he had used whenever he was in danger on the battlefield, one that momentarily transcended the limits of the physical body while ignoring the overload it placed on his body.

Seeing it in person is quite fascinating. At this level, it might even work on me if I’m even slightly off guard.

“You’re certainly skilled at concealing injuries.”

His gaze, staring at him as if he felt no pain despite his wrecked legs, was quite impressive.

Come to think of it, right after using the technique, he had naturally pinned his opponent down, not revealing that his legs were injured. Perhaps no one but him had noticed.

“…Interesting.”

It was also interesting that he wasn’t desperately resisting.

If he had truly identified him as an ‘enemy,’ he would have rampaged to break free by any means, but look at him, just glaring silently. Pathetically, his subconscious had already distinguished whether the opponent was friend or foe.

Perhaps if that guy who was already dead hadn’t shown ‘hostility,’ and if suspicious gazes hadn’t been directed at him from around, he wouldn’t have used the technique and attacked so desperately. His survival-honed instincts had chosen the best path to survive in the Demon King’s castle.

“First… we should get you healed, right?”

He couldn’t stand to see his precious toy break.

The Demon King snapped his fingers and summoned Ben. Ben, who seemed to have been handling herbs, looked around with a bewildered face, clutching a handful of herbs in both hands, then discovered him and jumped back in shock.

“Lord Demon King?! Are you hurt somewhere?!”

“No, not me, but the new 0th Legion Commander is hurt.”

“Yes…?”

But why me…….

Ben’s face went blank for a moment.

“I am Lord Demon King’s personal physician.”

There should be a legion commander-exclusive physician separately…….

“I know.”

The Demon King said, subduing Deon to make it easier for Ben to treat him.

“It’s because you were injured because of me, so I thought it would be best for you to treat him.”

It would be much better to be known as injured due to a clash with the Demon King than injured by his own technique. This place was the Demon Realm, where the strong are respected.

The Demon King, creating a background where his toy wouldn’t die easily, quietly watched Ben treating Deon’s legs while holding him in place, and then smiled sweetly.

“Then you can just become Demon’s personal physician altogether.”

“Yes?”

“I won’t get hurt anyway. On the other hand, Demon seems like he’ll need a physician frequently in the future.”

“Yes??”

“You’ve been bored because you haven’t had much work lately, right?”

You’ll be busy from now on, Ben.

***

‘What is going on?’

Ever since my memory cut off at the welcoming banquet, demons had started avoiding me.

Why? Did I cause some kind of accident while drunk? No, no, that’s not it. There’s no reason not to kill a human who was an enemy and even caused trouble. If I had caused an accident, they would have killed me already.

‘Then why…….’

Knock knock.

“Demon-nim, it’s Ben.”

“Oh… Come in.”

“How is your physical condition today?”

“I think I’m alright…….”

Yeah, actually, this is weird too.

Why did you become my personal physician? Why on earth did the Demon King assign his precious physician exclusively to me?

Something… something important that is closely related to me… is going on without me, on its own. There’s more than one strange thing happening.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Deon tilted his head in confusion.

Thus began his Demon King’s castle life.

Author’s Afterword

Hello, this is writer Denpi.

It’s finally really over. I feel a mix of emotions.

I used to be able to answer without hesitation that if I had a chance to go back to the past, I would. But now, I don’t think I can. The thought of rewriting this novel from the beginning, even as a hypothetical, makes me feel overwhelmed.

First of all, I would like to thank the readers who have followed me this far. I was really surprised and happy that more people than I expected liked this novel. It felt like a dream.

That’s because is my first work, and it’s a story filled with the author’s greed. I thought that writing what I wanted to write would strongly divide opinions. So, I’m still dumbfounded that it’s finished now.

As a work ‘filled with greed,’ is a novel where even characters who were originally intended to be protagonists or protagonist-level supporting characters were relegated to insignificant extras. The author poured everything into this one work, emptying out all the memos. Because of that, even characters who were not very related to the protagonist ended up having their own stories and thoughts, and the world expanded. I wondered why none of the characters were easy to deal with, and there was no room for the protagonist to stand out. I tore my hair out while writing.

Even though I wrote what I wanted, I have no regrets. It’s all thanks to you, my readers, who loved my work. Thank you so much.

Of course, there are regrets, unavoidable ones. If I had to pick a few, it’s that I didn’t fully develop the charm of each country’s rulers. Originally, I planned for the three countries to fall one after another, not simultaneously, which would have given me time to showcase the rulers and their strategists. But that would have dragged the story out, and I feared I’d lose steam myself, so I changed my plans. Because of that, some characters who seemed promising ended up feeling a bit anticlimactic.

And it’s also a big regret that the ‘second generation’ characters felt overshadowed. Take the Emperor of the Empire and the leader of the Revolutionary Army, for instance. The ‘first generation’ characters were so strong that their successors felt relatively insignificant.

Aside from that, I have many regrets about the political parts and battle scenes… but I did my best, pouring my heart and soul into it. I sincerely hope that for you readers, the enjoyable memories outweigh the regrets.

I always read the comments diligently. You might not believe it, but I’ve really read every single one. Thanks to you readers who got so invested in the story, laughing and crying along with it, writing has been a joy.

Thank you. I want to say I love all of you who read my work, especially those who stuck with me right to the very end.

Stay healthy, and may good luck follow you every step of the way!