“Lord Demon King, in that final battle against the Silver Sword Princess, you didn’t truly die—it was a fake death?”
Kurei was utterly shocked upon hearing the Demon King’s words.
“Yes.”
Via nodded beneath the mask. She continued using the young man’s voice from her past life to explain to Kurei.
“This king did not truly perish. I merely used that battle to fake my death and escape, deliberately vanishing from everyone’s sight.”
“So the corpse of Lord Demon King that I saw back then was also fake? I clearly saw your heart pierced through—there’s no way anyone could survive that!”
Nonsense. Surviving that would be impossible.
Via really wanted to say that.
But she had to force herself to remain calm, speaking in a tone of complete control, making Kurei believe she had never actually died.
She raised her hand and tapped her mask, producing a crisp sound.
“Kurei, this is where your limited vision fails you. Use your brain a little—if I hadn’t gone that far, how could I have convinced everyone that I was truly dead?”
“Oh, right!”
Kurei suddenly understood.
Because everyone had seen Ville’s corpse, all demons had believed without doubt that the Demon King was completely dead.
Didn’t that perfectly align with the Demon King’s plan to fake his death?
“Lord Demon King, your fake-death strategy was truly brilliant. You deceived everyone! For all these years, the entire demon race—no, the entire Theia Continent—believed you were dead!!”
“Kurei, your comprehension isn’t too poor.”
Seeing that Kurei had finally accepted her explanation, Via relaxed.
“But, Lord Demon King, there’s still one thing I don’t understand.” Kurei tilted her head. “You had already launched war against the human race, and the war situation was favorable to us demons. Why choose to fake your death at such a critical moment?”
“Is that what you think?”
“Yes! You could have defeated the Silver Sword Princess, crushed human morale, and then completely crushed the human race, achieving your path to hegemony!” Kurei replied.
As if I didn’t want to.
Via was speechless.
This Kurei truly didn’t know how strong the Silver Sword Princess became with the Divine Might Armament. Back then, she had used every trump card just to perish together with her.
Of course, she absolutely could not say that.
As the Demon King, she naturally had to maintain her dignity and image, keeping her subordinates in sufficient awe.
“Kurei, you truly do not understand. Even if I had won that battle and crushed human morale, I still could not have achieved hegemony.”
“Why?”
“Because a traitor had appeared by my side.”
“What?”
“The traitor had been lurking close to me, waiting for the critical moment to deliver a fatal strike. By the time I realized their existence, it was already too late.”
Via’s tone turned icy.
“Thus, I chose to use that bloody battle with the Silver Sword Princess to fake my death, making the traitor believe I had left this world.”
“So… that’s how it was?”
“These years away from the throne, I have gained much more freedom. Leaving demon territory, acting as I pleased, I also learned many things I never knew before.”
Via didn’t want the topic to remain focused on herself—talking too much would easily expose flaws.
“Speaking of which, Kurei, why are you here in the ruins of the Demon King’s Castle? All the demons here should have withdrawn long ago, right?”
“I came to drive away intruders. The thought of Lord Demon King’s castle being tainted by stupid humans makes me really unhappy!”
“Do you come every day?”
“Not really, just occasionally…”
“Just that?”
“Well… Lord Demon King, I do have a little selfish motive!”
Kurei lowered her head in embarrassment, fiddling with her fingers.
“I was thinking, since you were no longer here, everything in the Demon King’s Castle ruins would be ownerless. If I happened to pick up something valuable, I could take it out and sell it later…”
“…” Via was speechless.
“Lord Demon King, I swear I never touched anything valuable!! The precious items were long ago taken by other members of the royal court. I wasn’t in the castle at the time and didn’t get to take anything. Now I can only pick up the worthless leftovers!”
Kurei put on a pitiful expression.
“You wouldn’t let me go hungry, right?”
“…Fine.”
Via felt a bit helpless, but this did fit the demon race’s style.
There was only one thing she didn’t quite understand.
Why hadn’t her Demon King Armament been recovered?
“I occasionally run into groups of humans sneaking in. If they aren’t particularly strong, I just deal with them on the spot—oh, right!!”
Kurei realized she had been so caught up in talking that she nearly forgot something.
“Lord Demon King, I actually encountered a strange human earlier. I was chasing her the whole time!”
“What kind of person?” Via pretended not to know.
“A super, super hateful stinking pink-haired girl!!”
“Stin-stinking pink-haired?”
“Yes! Super annoying, always mocking people. Just seeing her makes me want to hang her up and beat her!”
Kurei gritted her teeth in anger.
She spread her arms.
“Look, my maid outfit was even blown up like this!”
“And then?”
“After that, I kept tracking her all the way here. Come to think of it,” Kurei pressed a finger to her chin, “I remember she ran into this very room. Then, in this room, not only did I not see her, but I encountered Lord Demon King instead—”
This is bad. I have to interrupt Kurei’s train of thought here.
If she keeps connecting the dots, putting the two events together, she’ll definitely become suspicious.
“Oh, the person you mentioned—I did see her.”
Via raised her hand and tossed the Avalon Academy uniform jacket onto the ground.
“That foolish human has already been erased by me.”
“This really does smell like that stinking pink-haired girl!”
Kurei picked up the jacket and sniffed it carefully.
“A mere human daring to trespass in my Demon King’s Castle naturally required a lesson from me,” Via said with great disdain. “And that lesson was, of course, death.”
“Although I didn’t get to personally smash that pink-haired pest into strawberry jam, since Lord Demon King already dealt with her, that’s fine.” Kurei didn’t pursue it further.
“Enough. Forget about that human. A mere insect isn’t worth our attention.” Via snapped her fingers, using flames to burn the uniform jacket.
“Yes, Lord Demon King!”
“I returned to the ruins of the Demon King’s Castle because I wanted to see what had become of the royal city that belongs to me.”
Via walked past Kurei’s side while issuing the command.
“Kurei, follow me. I have been away far too long, and there are some things I wish to ask you.”
“Lord Demon King, what would you like to know?” Kurei hurried to catch up with Via’s steps.
“Tell me about the state of affairs among the demons in recent years.”
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