Chapter 73: Back to the Demon Realm

“Lirinel…?”

“Ah, yes! It’s nothing, Demon-nim!”

It doesn’t seem like it’s nothing…

“Hehe, but what’s that?”

……

“Ah, of course, if it’s related to the mission, you don’t have to tell me!”

That’s not why I’m keeping my mouth shut, you know?

But what could I do against an army commander? In the end, I swallowed a sigh and started unpacking the luggage I’d brought.

Honestly, I was quite surprised when I unpacked to take out the food.

Just how much does Rememver know, and about what exactly…?

“Wow, cookies?! I’ve never seen this shape before!”

He even packed quite plausible souvenirs.

Aside from the shape, they’re the same cookies you can easily eat in the Demon King’s castle, but Lirinel’s eyes are sparkling as she gauges my reaction, fixated on the fact that it’s a shape she’s never seen before.

Well, I can understand that kind of reaction. I guess so. It’s a very pretty flower-shaped cookie that doesn’t exist in the Demon Realm.

With the intention of gaining favor, I held out the cookie bag to Lirinel.

“Here’s a gift.”

“Ah…? R-Really?! Thank you very much!”

In times like these, she’s truly no different from a child.

“Oh my goodness, a reverse offering…! I can’t believe this day would come in my life…”

“?”

She seems to be saying strange things every now and then.

I watched her put a cookie in her mouth with a genuinely happy expression that made it hard to believe she was a commander of the Demon King’s army, before starting to move again.

The nearby gatekeepers had been glancing at us since a while ago. It probably wasn’t because of me, a human with no magical power, but probably because of Lirinel. She might look like a child, but in the end, a commander is a commander.

As I intended by moving, Lirinel immediately followed me.

“You’re going straight to the Demon King, right?”

“…I guess I have to.”

I don’t want to go, but what choice do I have? I have to go.

Oblivious to my feelings, Lirinel nodded brightly, looking pleased.

“I’ll guide you on the shortest route!”

***

Unlike the other gardens in the Demon King’s castle, the central garden is always restricted. The only ones allowed to enter are the Demon King, the army commanders, and those permitted by the Demon King himself.

However, this central garden, which even the Demon King and the commanders rarely visited and was left neglected, was graced by someone’s footsteps for the first time in a while.

“The Empire attacked the Ireon Kingdom?”

The Demon King asked, sitting at the table in the middle of the garden, leisurely raising his tea.

“It won’t simply end there. The Emperor’s goal is continental conquest. The Ireon Kingdom is merely the stepping stone for that.”

Replied the man with pointed ears, snow-white skin, and radiant golden hair like sunlight. His blue-green eyes looked directly at the Demon King.

Anyone could see that the person in front of them, who didn’t look like a demon at all, was indeed a completely different race from demons. The others present here were the same.

Races that were neither demons nor humans, but rather the kind that would only appear in books somewhere.

At this point, let me clarify one thing: the original name of this place where the Demon King exists and three moons hang in the sky is not the Demon Realm. ‘Demon Realm’ is merely a name given because demons are the most widely distributed and occupy the largest territory.

A long time ago, even before the ‘demon race’ was born—

Numerous races lived here. Back then, this place was called ‘the Abyss’.

The name that seemed forgotten still lives on. What does that imply?

──The Demon Realm, no, the Abyss, still has other races remaining.

“Well, fine.”

The Demon King placed the tea he had just sipped on the table, slightly raising the corner of his lips.

“Since the Fairy King himself has come all the way here, he wouldn’t lie, so I’ll believe your words. However, what I’m curious about is why you’re telling me this. You guys were definitely not interested in the Human Realm, were you?”

“Don’t think that just because we had a generational shift not too long ago, we’re stupid. We are the ones responsible for each of our races. We know that once the Empire conquers the continent, the next target will be this place.”

More accurately, they’ll be targeting the demons of the Demon Realm.

If humans start stepping foot here under the pretext of eliminating demons, it will only be a matter of time before they realize the existence of other races.

In that case, they’ll be next after the demons.

From the Fairy King’s perspective, who values the flow of the world and nature, demons, who are no different from a ‘flaw in the world,’ are hardly welcome, but the stability of his race is more important than his hatred for them, which is why he had no choice but to come to this place.

“So, don’t die?”

“The meaning is, don’t die needlessly and cause harm to my race.”

The Demon King chuckled at the cold words.

But that was only for a moment; the laughter vanished instantly, and a strong pressure weighed down on the entire garden.

“Alright, that’s fine, but can’t you speak a little more politely? I know the fairy race hates demons, but even so, you haven’t even lost the baby fat yet—”

The 120-year-old Fairy King, who hadn’t even lost his baby fat, bit his lip tightly. The Demon King, who was looking at him with emotionless eyes, turned his head.

The Dwarf Chief, the Mermaid Queen, the Vampire Queen.

The leaders of each race, who were 700-800 years old, were struggling to endure the intense pressure.

“Since we’re in the position of ‘leaders’ of equal standing, I don’t even expect honorifics. Just can’t you do something about that arrogant tone? Seriously, these youngsters these days…”

……

Clicking his tongue and shaking his head, the Demon King stared at those who couldn’t even answer due to the pressure before letting out a deep sigh.

“…Never mind. What am I doing against kids?”

The pressure disappeared.

The Fairy King frowned as if his pride was hurt, but the Demon King ignored it and got up from his seat.

Because something more important than educating a rude kid had just come up.

“The Empire attacked the Ireon Kingdom, you said? Well, that’s just perfect.”

The location tracking mark I’d placed was signaling that ‘he’ had arrived here.

“The operative who was dispatched to the Human Realm has just returned.”

“I know that ‘operative’.”

The Fairy King started speaking, stubbornly maintaining his arrogant tone, as if his racial traits wouldn’t disappear easily.

“I heard he’s from the Human Realm. He’s very suitable to be used as an operative, but there’s one thing I’d like to clarify before that.”

……

“Is that human someone you can trust?”

“…Who knows.”

The Demon King smiled as he walked leisurely and placed his hand on the entrance door to the garden.

“As long as he’s here.”

……

“He’ll be very trustworthy.”

***

“Welcome back. I had a lot of things I wanted to ask you anyway, so it’s perfect timing that you’re here.”

The Demon King, who welcomed Deon with open arms and casually touched above his collarbone, naturally began to lead him somewhere. Deon’s eyes narrowed at some point as he followed obediently, his hand touching the spot where the mark had vanished.

The direction he was being led to was none other than the central garden.

The central garden was almost like a greenhouse to make it easier to control outside access. To head towards a place where access is restricted unlike other gardens, a place that even the Demon King himself doesn’t visit often.

Deon, who was staring at the Demon King’s back at this rare sight, lowered his gaze without saying anything.

When they finally arrived at the garden, the Demon King pulled out another chair and immediately began asking questions.

“I heard the Empire attacked the Ireon Kingdom. I hear the Emperor’s goal is continental conquest?”

Deon, who didn’t sit on the chair the Demon King offered, stood blankly and looked around at the different races before slowly nodding.

“Yes.”

He wasn’t worried about them overhearing.

There must be a reason why he deliberately brought him all the way here and asked questions in front of others, even though they could have talked separately.

“What orders did the Emperor give you?”

“[Monitor the Demon King and prevent him from interfering in this situation.]”

“And?”

“He told me to return no matter what if the Demon King decides to go to war.”

“Hmm, as expected.”

Well, he was planning to watch until the Emperor swallowed more than half of the continent anyway, so there was no need to worry too much right now.

The Demon King, pretending to stroke his chin and ponder, lifted his head and faced Deon. The Demon King’s unique reversed eyes curved softly, and a gentle voice flowed out.

“Besides that, don’t you have anything else to tell me?”

“Magic has been discovered in the Human Realm.”

“Huh?”

The Demon King’s eyes widened as if he had heard something unexpected.

Deon could easily read the emotion blatantly revealed in those wide eyes.

Confusion.

Yes, confusion. That was all. Not a hint of ‘anger at someone using magic arbitrarily in the Human Realm,’ just pure confusion.

Deon, who was carefully observing it, slowly opened his mouth.

His red eyes were fixed on the Demon King, and a calm voice flowed out as if he hadn’t noticed anything.

“In one of the buildings, magic, not sorcery, was used.”

“Oh, is that so?”

……

“Okay. I’ll look into it.”

You can go now.

The Demon King waved his hand casually. Deon’s gaze lingered persistently as if he had sensed something, but his tightly closed lips didn’t utter a single word.

He couldn’t stay any longer, so Deon eventually turned around, and the lips that hadn’t opened until Deon reached the garden entrance finally parted slowly after he stood in front of the door.

From his leisurely opened mouth, a story completely unrelated to the previous conversation popped out.

“The movement of your left arm is unnatural, have Ben take a look.”

An extremely affectionate voice.

“…Understood.”

The red eyes that glanced at him obediently withdrew their gaze. Instead of saying anything more, Deon opened the garden door.

After Deon disappeared, it was none other than the Fairy King who broke the brief silence.

“You’ll look into it?”

A cold laughter pushed away the silence and spread low throughout the garden.

He, who had been laughing coldly, stared at the Demon King with a straight face as if he had never laughed.

“Who else would be able to use magic in the Human Realm?”

Demons basically follow the Demon King. It’s absurd for them to cause a nonsensical accident that isn’t even a minor transgression.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

“Watch your tone.”

“Is that what’s important right now?!”

“It’s not something you should meddle in either.”

“Aren’t you afraid of the consequences!”

The Fairy King eventually couldn’t stand his frustration and shouted.

He, who was sensitive to the flow of the world, could tell for sure.

──The world is biding its time.

Soon, the world will send a hero. Unlike before, it will send a hero who is very threatening to the Demon King. No, if it’s biding its time to this extent, it might send a hero who can ‘definitely kill’ him.

But the Demon King, whether he knew this situation or not,

“Why should I be afraid of the consequences?”

“…What?”

“There’s no reason to be afraid. The hero will appear anyway, and I will face him. This is what has always happened. There’s no reason to be afraid now.”

“Ha……”

A burst of hollow laughter erupted, but it was only for a moment.

The Fairy King, his face hardened coldly, stood up from his seat without any lingering feelings.

“Alright, it’s not something I can interfere with. Do as you please. I won’t bother with it anymore.”

The meeting ended there.

He thought of him as the leader of a race that was at least acting as a primary line of defense, even though he didn’t like it.

Thinking of the humans who would stick swords into the Demon King’s heart and push all the way here, the Fairy King left the place without hesitation to prepare countermeasures.

The others also stood up from their seats obediently without saying much, even if they had dissatisfied expressions, because the Fairy King had already said what they wanted or needed to say.

“I’ll be going now. Oh, and you might want to manage your monsters properly. Lately, they’ve been lingering near our territory.”

“…I’ll keep it in mind.”