novelraw Chapter 71 : Chapter 71
Chapter 71 : Chapter 71
Chapter 71. The Entrance to Hell (3)
Beneath a dark red sky, a massive fortress soared high.
Lightning struck ceaselessly, dyeing the castle walls red, and a faint red aura seeped out from between the pitch-black bricks.
The twisted spires were sharp enough to pierce the sky, and as if the entire castle were alive, a low roar echoed continuously from beyond.
At the center of such an ominous castle was a group of people.
“Lord Desiderius, we have succeeded in taking full control of the Demon King's Castle.”
“Good work.”
“All that remains is for you to ascend the throne.”
At the urging of his subordinates, the man called Desiderius carefully moved his body and approached the giant throne in the middle of the hall.
He gently caressed the throne made of human bones as if handling a jewel and slowly opened his mouth.
“So this is the throne of bones. It’s less impressive than I thought.”
With those words, he plopped down onto the seat.
As if it had been his place from the very beginning.
Soon, the cheers of his subordinates filled the hall.
“Waaaah!!”
“Long live the new Demon King!”
“Glory to Lord Desiderius!”
The cheers were short-lived.
One of the subordinates threw out these words.
“Now that you have ascended the throne, it is time to strike the humans. When will you strike? We are all prepared.”
Everyone looked at the man sitting on the throne with expectant faces.
But the man just slowly shook his head.
“For now, internal affairs are the priority.”
“Internal affairs? That’s not what you said. It was Your Majesty who said you would attack the humans as soon as you ascended the throne!”
“You know only one thing, but not the other. Have you already forgotten the lesson of the previous Demon King?”
At those words, no one dared to open their mouth.
The previous Demon King had attacked the humans as soon as he ascended the throne, only to be struck down by the Hero’s party in return.
“We must gather more strength. We don’t even need to go as far back as the previous Demon King. You all know what happened to Dekal, don’t you?”
There was no Demon Tribe member who didn’t know what happened to Dekal.
He broke the Demon Tribe’s long-standing unwritten rule and passed away while being mourned by countless humans.
“He tried to use the humans, but instead met a miserable end. It was because he looked down on humans and was arrogant. But I am different. I learned that war is something you wage when you are confident you will not lose. In that respect, we are still lacking.”
One by one, they nodded their heads, their faces showing that they understood.
They had fallen for Desiderius' sweet talk.
“Understood. We will follow our lord’s command.”
“Of course. That’s what it means to be my subordinate.”
He smirked and thought to himself.
‘Idiots. Why would I strike the humans? I should just enjoy myself for a bit, and if things get dangerous, I’ll run away immediately.’
Not all Demon Kings had constantly waged war with humans.
Among them, there were Demon Kings who focused on internal affairs, and many who simply indulged in luxury and pleasure before their time was up.
‘There’s nothing more foolish than war. What does it do other than make you die early?’
Desiderius was a man who had gotten this far purely on his glib tongue.
His abilities were pathetic, but with his overwhelming gift of gab, he succeeded in uniting numerous members of the Demon Tribe.
He was able to take control of the Demon King's Castle.
Then, someone entered the hall and shouted urgently.
“Reporting! Three more low-ranking demons have fallen from the Entrance to Hell!”
Desiderius' expression crumpled.
“Tsk. I told them to be so careful. How many times does this make it now.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
A man who appeared to be Desiderius' close aide opened his mouth with a troubled face.
“The Entrance to Hell is a place that all of the Demon Tribe wishes to conquer, so it seems they can’t suppress their competitive spirit even if we forbid them from approaching.”
“Those who are too curious die early. Seal off the area immediately, and announce that anyone who approaches will have their family exterminated for three generations. That’s the only way to stop more deaths from occurring.”
Desiderius shook his head and muttered to himself.
‘Why do they not understand that they only have one life. They’re all just idiots. That must be why they were defeated by mere humans.’
The one who finds the legacy of the previous Demon King can become the true Demon King?
That’s nothing more than a legend.
What’s more important is to maintain power and live a long, long life.
Isn’t there a saying that it’s better to roll in a pile of dog poop in this life?
When you die, that’s the end.
Desiderius had no desire to end his life over such a trivial matter.
***
Around that time.
There was another high-ranking demon approaching the Demon King's Castle.
It was the original version of the Demon King, Nox.
“It has been a long journey.”
The distance from the Tambora volcano to this place was thousands of kilometers.
He had walked that long road alone, so he should have been tired, but there was no sign of fatigue on his face.
It was because his natural stamina was exceptional.
He looked at the Demon King's Castle with a complicated expression.
The place where he was born.
But a place he had to leave before he was even weaned due to a sudden coup d’état.
“Tsk. To think I’d come back here again.”
Even if he were to become the Demon King, this was the one place he never wanted to return to.
So he had even picked out a suitable location to build a new Demon King’s Castle, but as of now, there was no other way but to come here.
“I must become stronger, no matter what.”
Only then would he be able to gain Primus' favor.
He hardened his resolve inwardly and moved toward the Demon King's Castle.
But he saw a group of people around the castle.
They were patrolling the area holding sturdy armor and sharp spears, and every single one of their steps was orderly.
‘Who are these guys?’
The Demon King's Castle was a place that had been abandoned after the death of the previous Demon King.
If someone were to occupy this place for no reason, the other Demon King candidates would not leave them alone.
But the fact that there were soldiers here meant that someone had made a move.
‘Who is it? They don’t look like Rasha’s dregs.’
Rasha was one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the old Demon Tribe, and there were rumors that he had gone down to his hometown to build up his strength after the Demon King’s death.
But at some point, he had vanished, and he wasn’t gutsy enough to aim for the Demon King's Castle.
Nox climbed a tree and carefully observed the soldiers’ movements.
‘Their systematic movements show they’ve been properly trained.’
Having become Primus' subordinate, Nox was no longer interested in the title of Demon King, but he was still curious as to who had done this.
Stationing soldiers here was tantamount to proclaiming oneself the Demon King, so it must have been someone confident in their skills who had made the move.
‘If even the rank-and-file soldiers are at that level, their leader must be no joke. If I’m lucky, I might be able to get a useful subordinate.’
With Dekal’s death, the subordinates who followed him had vanished without a trace.
He was in need of a competent subordinate anyway.
Nox killed a passing soldier without a soul noticing and slyly took his armor to wear.
Then, he infiltrated the Demon King's Castle. He began to spy.
‘Hehe. This brings back old memories. First, I need to find out who is in command here. I can go to the Entrance to Hell after that.’
Nox seeped into the castle like a shadow and soon vanished from sight.
***
Nox was not the only one aiming for the Demon King's Castle.
Another group had also finished preparing to depart for the Entrance to Hell.
A few days after sparring with Noemi.
I slowly began preparations to send Rude to the Marquis' castle.
‘If I take Rude along, there are too many variables to consider. And it’s also problematic to leave the Marquis' castle unattended.’
The guy was a coward, but at the same time, he was a massive bundle of curiosity.
If he heard that we were going to the Entrance to Hell, which no one had ever conquered, he would never yield his stubbornness.
Thus, I planned to go to the Entrance to Hell without him.
After firming my resolve to exclude Rude from this expedition.
I summoned the others to my room.
“I think it’s about time we made our move.”
Everyone nodded their heads silently.
“It would be nice if Master could come with us, but it must take a lot of preparation to manage the Marquis' castle.”
Adel defended Rude, but Anonymous was different.
“Hmph. We don’t need a coward like him. To be honest, you and Noemi are baggage too. It’s enough for just me and Master to go, so why are you being so needlessly stubborn.”
Anonymous glared at Noemi with a face full of dissatisfaction.
She was saying that if it were just the two of them, they could have had a cozy time, but now there were hindrances.
Noemi strongly retorted, telling her not to spout nonsense.
“I was acknowledged by Dad for my skills! Isn’t Master the real hindrance? Why is a mere maid trying to butt into a father-daughter relationship?”
“Ha? You’re running your mouth without even realizing Master went easy on you. Wanna go a round right here?”
“Fine! Get ready, because I’ll make sure you can never act like a vixen again!”
“Wh-what? Act like a vixen! This bitch!!”
This is chaotic.
I stopped the two of them, telling them to cut it out, and confirmed the facts once more.
“Anonymous, are you sure you don’t have any trauma?”
“Of course. Ah, no. Maybe I do.”
Hm? She definitely said she had no trauma when we talked before, so why the sudden change?
But Anonymous twisted her body and opened her mouth.
“When Master rejected me, the shock was truly immense. I even went in my special victory lingerie.”
“Stop.”
Any more was dangerous.
My mind wouldn’t last with her throwing around R-rated jokes at the drop of a hat.
Adel and Noemi were looking at me and Anonymous with strange expressions.
Girls, your dad is innocent. Didn’t Anonymous just say so with her own mouth?
I’ve never laid a hand on her. Please believe me.
Anyway.
I looked at Adel and asked.
“Adel, could you tell me your trauma once more?”
Adel nodded with a serious face.
“Failing to save Alvarez remains an eternal regret. If only I had been a little faster, I could have saved Alvarez.”
“I’ve told you before, but that wasn’t your fault.”
But Adel shook her head with a sad face.
“It must be because I was immature. I will never let something like that happen again.”
I patted Adel’s shoulder with a gentle smile.
“With that kind of mindset, you’ll be able to overcome the first Demon King’s mental attack.”
I said that, but it was unexpected.
The trauma I knew Adel had was that there was no one around when she manifested in this world.
‘Isabel had accidentally arrived a little late. Adel misunderstood that and thought she had been abandoned.’
Think about it.
You’ve just arrived in a new world, and there’s no one around?
She would have been in a state like a pure white baby who knew nothing of the world, so it must have been incredibly scary.
But the current Adel considered failing to save Alvarez as her trauma.
It was proof that the game knowledge I had was not perfect.
‘I would have been in big trouble if I hadn’t checked beforehand. I would have given the wrong advice.’
Nodding my head, I looked at Noemi.
Noemi’s trauma was something I truly never expected.
‘I wonder if that can even be called a trauma.’
Oblivious to my inner thoughts, Noemi’s eyes sparkled as if asking me to hurry up and question her too.