Chapter 293: Unraveling Suspicion

Catching the culprit was easy.

***

Deon didn’t leave his room on the second day. He probably wanted to rest after the busy day before.

‘Or maybe he anticipated the uncomfortable stares and avoided them.’

The Demon King quietly watched the demons who were aware of Deon Hart’s absence. If Deon had entered this place, he would have been subjected to countless gazes.

‘Of course, he usually gets attention from demons… but this is different now.’

Seeing this makes me think it’s fortunate he’s resting.

Even with the aftermath of yesterday still lingering, if he had come here, he would have subtly received uncomfortable gazes. Even now, a strange tension subtly permeates the entire banquet hall.

‘To think that in a banquet opened to relieve tension, they are actually more tense.’

What is this when it’s almost all over? The Demon King let out a hollow laugh.

‘What to do, Deon. It seems it will be difficult to act in the future?’

To smoothly proceed with future tasks, the suspicion towards Deon Hart must be somewhat cleared. I’m curious how Deon will overcome this though…

‘Well… my patience is also wearing thin. Living without magic power is also frustrating.’

The Demon King was thinking of subtly lending a hand again this time if possible.

Of course, even the ‘Demon King’ is under suspicion. If I rashly step in to defend him, I’ll face backlash.

Therefore, I’m thinking of ways to help him from a passive position.

The premise underlying my thoughts was realistic because I wasn’t greedy.

‘Completely eliminating suspicion about Deon is honestly impossible.’

Demons aren’t fools. But I might be able to ensure it remains minor suspicion.

So now I need to find a way…

“…What did you say?”

Commander of the 3rd Corps, Asild, called me, and in a place we moved to, facing a sudden situation, the Demon King retorted as if dumbfounded.

“This guy dared to attempt to sow discord.”

“He tried to cause discord between legions. In the territory of the 3rd Corps, he hunted magical beasts arbitrarily and carved the number 4, and in the territory of the 4th Corps, he carved 3.”

“…Ha.”

As if grasping the situation, my gaze, which had been moving between Asild and Idelia, lowered slightly to take in the disheveled human.

Where did he leave his owner and wander around alone? The human – Dan – whom Deon Hart brought himself, was silently bowing his head.

“You’ve done something interesting.”

It seems like a disaster caused by a slight misunderstanding between the two legion commanders.

The relationship between the Commander of the 3rd Corps and the Commander of the 4th Corps isn’t entirely terrible. To put it simply, it’s more like ‘a slightly intense bickering.’ There hasn’t been any major incident to particularly sour their relationship; it’s just that their personalities don’t mesh well, so it naturally became that way.

I don’t know why he moved so hastily, but this time he was uncharacteristically rash.

‘Usually, he gets along well with the legion commanders with a smooth attitude.’

And he usually toes the line quite skillfully.

Well, anyway, thanks to this, a way to lessen suspicion towards Deon Hart came to mind. My red eyes secretly glowed, filled with ominous energy.

“This guy is Sir Deon’s subordinate, shouldn’t we call Sir Deon?”

“…Yes.”

The suspicion in the eyes of the two legion commanders can be seen growing. The Demon King nodded without hesitation. A hand, raised as if tired, touched his temple.

“I’ll interrogate this guy in the basement, so you two go and bring Deon.”

“Understood.”

Asild, who had been tilting his head wondering why we, not a servant, were being ordered, soon nodded as if he understood.

He probably understood by attaching reasons like ‘because he’s a Hero,’ ‘because he’s the commander-in-chief.’ I turned my head and looked at Idelia. She, who was hesitating as if unwilling, rolled her eyes when our gazes met and bowed her head in the same way.

“Then.”

The two legion commanders disappeared, and the Demon King called a servant.

A demon who was coming in flinched at the sight of Dan’s condition. Regardless, the Demon King gestured with his chin towards Dan and ordered.

“Pick him up and follow me.”

“Yes…Yes.”

The servant pitifully trembled and hoisted Dan up. His trembling intensified as he realized that the Demon King was heading to the basement, but fortunately, he didn’t drop Dan.

‘If I drop him, I’ll die… if I drop him, I’ll die…’

Reciting an incantation that no one would know, the servant carefully climbed the stairs step by step, and at some point, realized that he had arrived at the basement and raised his head. The Demon King, who was about ten steps ahead, was looking back at him.

“Just put him down anywhere roughly.”

“Yes.”

The servant diligently placed the human in an empty space as ordered. When he looked at the Demon King, conveying the meaning of ‘What should I do now?’, the awaited order returned.

“Now go back.”

“Yes!”

I’m alive!

The servant quickly disappeared upstairs. The Demon King, watching his back view as if dumbfounded by his honest attitude from beginning to end, looked down at Dan again. Complex gazes met Dan’s.

‘…How should I start this?’

The timing of that guy causing trouble was good.

Because things happened like this right the day after the previous incident. With this one guy, a path to alleviate suspicion has opened. Originally, suspicion and rumors should be nipped in the bud, so it’s a very good thing.

However, I wonder if this guy will be convinced by the words to die… Quietly looking at him, I slowly opened my mouth.

“You…”

“I will take all the blame.”

“… …”

As if knowing what the Demon King was about to say, Dan preempted him. In that moment, the Demon King’s expression faltered.

Dan grinned as if to show off.

“From the start, I was planning to take all the blame alone if things turned out like this.”

It was a plan with a considerable chance of being discovered from the start. He couldn’t have not considered even the possibilities if it was discovered, right?

“‘Deon Hart’ will simply become a human who was unjustly suspected due to having a bad subordinate.”

“… …”

From the silent Demon King’s attitude, Dan gained certainty that the words he had intercepted were what the Demon King was going to say. If not, he would have said something else.

‘Typical Demon King.’

Since the situation has become like this, he immediately thinks of using life. It’s fortunate that I thought the same thing in advance and acted, otherwise, I would have felt considerable resistance.

He continued speaking with a confident smile.

“Of course, doubts about Deon Hart’s judgment in placing someone like me by his side will arise, but…”

“…That can be somewhat mitigated by his recent attitude of distancing himself from you.”

“That’s right.”

“Ha…”

This guy is also quite insane. …Well, a human who can live well in the Demon Realm to the point of being unharmed can’t be sane. The Demon King let out a hollow laugh like a sigh.

‘Still, I’ve managed to catch a breather with this, so is it okay?’

It’s good then.

However, there’s one thing Dan seems to be mistaken about… The Demon King chose to remain silent. Because this is more beneficial.

I just thought to myself.

Dan is a guy who can use tricks, but he’s immature when it comes to ‘relationships between people.’

‘Perhaps this guy judged that Deon Hart didn’t care for him and acted accordingly.’

But that’s not the case.

The Demon King made a miscalculation in assessing the relationship between the Commander of the 3rd Corps and the Commander of the 4th Corps, and gained certainty from Dan’s attitude of acting like this now.

‘Well, thanks to this, things are going smoothly, so it’s okay.’

I feel sorry for Deon and this human, but it can’t be helped.

An air of composure settled on the Demon King’s face, without a hint of guilt or apology. Seeing his expression as if he had taken a breather, Dan opened his mouth. ‘However’.

“Could you please call the Commander of the 9th Corps? There’s something I must say before I die.”

“…Shameless.”

A sinner who dared to cause discord between legions.

“But you will grant it, won’t you?”

“That’s true.”

As if he had never lowered his voice, the Demon King smiled brightly.

It’s not a difficult request, and it’s better to grant it rather than refusing and turning him into an unpredictable bomb.

Dan’s attitude was calm, as if he had expected this.

‘Unless the Demon King abandons Deon Hart.’

Otherwise, there’s no choice but to grant it.

The Demon King opened his mouth as if to give a definite answer… then glanced at the stairs and nodded instead of speaking. Following that, Deon appeared.

As if he had heard the explanation on the way, he, accompanied by Asild and Idelia behind him, had a very angry expression.

‘Ah.’

And Dan had an intuition.

‘I’m going to get hit.’

***

I was going to rest comfortably in my room today, but the legion commanders came looking for me.

With eyes filled with even more suspicion than the day before, they said Lord Demon King was calling for me and led the way… What on earth is going on? While I was wondering, noticing a hint of wariness in their eyes, Idelia tentatively started explaining the situation. It was just an explanation to test my suspicion and reaction, but it was enough to understand the full story.

And Deon was furious.

“To act arbitrarily…”

He does things I didn’t even order so well.

A growling voice leaked through his teeth. Idelia, who was quietly observing my reaction, flinched, and Asild, who was leading the way, glanced back. Regardless, Deon, noticing the direction they were going, increased his walking speed and headed to the basement.

The two legion commanders, hesitating at the ominous energy felt even from his back view, glanced at each other once and hurriedly followed him.

And so, now.

The Demon King, having confirmed Deon’s state, where emotions were at their peak and he seemed to see nothing else, paused as he checked the legion commanders following behind.

‘Judging by the looks of it, he seems like he’s going to cause trouble… Should I back out now?’

If he makes a slip of the tongue in this state, it’ll be a disaster.

Just as I was about to gesture for the legion commanders to leave, Deon moved first.

Slap!

“… …!”

Dan’s head snapped to the side.

As if they didn’t expect him to act like this, the legion commanders widened their eyes, and the Demon King, realizing that his worries were unnecessary, let out a mocking laugh.

Regardless, Deon, who slapped Dan’s cheek hard, didn’t care about the surrounding reactions and only glared at Dan, speaking as if spitting out words.

“Crazy bastard.”

“… …”

Dan silently spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth.

A chilling atmosphere flowed.

Asild, who had been frozen and only rolling his eyes, glanced at Idelia. She also had a strange light in her eyes, as if she felt the same thing as I did.

‘…This is definitely genuine.’

The two legion commanders were convinced. The voice that flowed out quietly, filled with coldness, was definitely sincere.

The wariness disappeared from their eyes.

Not missing that gap, the Demon King gestured for them to leave. Having confirmed everything they needed to confirm, they turned their backs straight away without hesitation.

Idelia, who glanced back as she climbed the stairs, last saw Deon Hart raising his hand again.

“… …”

Dan stared blankly at Deon, who had raised his hand again.

I moved for him and ended up like this, but even though my mouth was busted and my cheek was swollen in the meantime from being hit by the person involved, I couldn’t bring myself to resent him.

Because I saw his eyes. Deon Hart was genuinely angry.

…He was angry because he was too sad.

‘For fear of losing me.’

Grief, despair from reading the situation where he couldn’t save me, sublimated into anger.

It was a miscalculation. To think that Deon Hart was still attached to Dan, who would no longer be of great use.

Just watching him quietly, his raised hand trembled, then he clenched it into a fist and let it drop. A subdued voice was heard.

“…Why did you do that?”