Gobiruarre is the 14th proud village chief of the Goblin village.
Although bad things happened, causing them to lose comrades to outsiders and be driven out of their original land to come to this place, he did not give up even in desperate situations and fought through relentlessly.
As a result of his hard work, not only did their number of comrades increase, but they also managed to capture a priest in a trap, allowing him and his people to become stronger than ever.
Because of this, Gobiruarre spent each day with the positive thought that they would soon reclaim their homeland.
Until yesterday, that is.
Last night, Gobiruarre went to take a look after hearing that goblins had caught someone new in the trap, and he was shocked.
The one they had captured was none other than the princess, whom he had only seen once in his life.
At first, he almost mistook her for a human, but after seeing her striking white hair like a rare snowflower and confirming her face, Gobiruarre immediately recognized her as the princess.
Startled, Gobiruarre stopped the goblins from tying her up and took her to his room.
Fortunately, the princess woke up safely in his room without any issues.
Gobiruarre sighed in relief and began to ask their princess how on earth this situation came to be.
“Um… Lady Aria? May I ask why you are here?”
“I’m not Aria! I’m Reina!”
The princess replied loudly to him.
It was the same answer as before, a repetition.
Gobiruarre placed a hand on his throbbing head.
No matter how anyone looked, she was clearly his princess, but she herself was denying it, driving him mad.
“Then… Lady Reina? May I ask how you ended up here?”
Gobiruarre sighed and changed his question. Reina, shrinking back a little, hesitantly answered.
“Ruina told me not to tell strangers…”
Gobiruarre felt confused by her answer.
Ruina—this name had been coming from the princess’s mouth since earlier.
Who on earth was Ruina?
“Who is this person named Ruina?”
“Ruina is hel… oops! Ruina told me not to say.”
The princess, who had been speaking well until now, suddenly clamped her own mouth shut with her hand. Hel… it seemed like her real name started with ‘Hel.’
Gobiruarre thought.
Hel…? Who among the demon tribe had a name starting with ‘Hel’… surely it couldn’t be that person.
Gobiruarre, pondering who on earth Ruina was, continued with his questions.
“Is Ruina a member of the demon tribe?”
“N-no.”
Although she said no, the princess’s awkward tone and her eyes shifting around restlessly told him she was lying.
“Then Ruina is a human, right? In that case, we should kill her immediately.”
“Huh?”
The princess was startled, but Gobiruarre continued speaking without hesitation.
“Why? She isn’t a demon. Humans are our enemies, princess.”
“N-no… that can’t…”
When he mentioned killing her, the princess seemed to think about something for a moment before finally admitting.
“She’s a demon…”
She muttered something quietly in the end.
“Pardon? I couldn’t hear you?”
“She’s a demon!”
The princess squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
Huff… At least now they knew Ruina was a demon.
The only thing left was figuring out who exactly she was…
Gobiruarre asked again.
“Then, princess, what is this Ruina’s real name?”
“That… I…”
“Princess, I’m also a demon. Don’t you think you can tell me?”
“Even so… Ruina told me not to say…”
Damn it, no matter how much he asked, it seemed like the princess wasn’t going to answer.
In that case, there was no choice. He’d have to lie to the princess to reveal her identity.
He put on a serious face and spoke.
“Lady Aria… no, Lady Reina? This is necessary in order to reward Ruina.
Ruina has done a great deed in protecting you from danger. If I report this to the higher-ups, a reward will naturally follow, and her name will be known throughout the demon realm.
If that happens, people who hear of her achievements will admire and respect her. However, to make that happen, I need to know her real name. Only then can we properly reward her.
So, please tell me her real name. If you keep hiding it, all of this could disappear.”
“Huh?”
The princess tilted her head and looked at him, seemingly not understanding.
Oops, maybe I used too difficult words for the princess.
I’ll have to simplify it.
“If you keep hiding it, Ruina might end up hating you.”
“No… that can’t happen… that can’t…”
Simplifying it had an immediate effect.
The princess, after hearing him, muttered something under her breath as if she was troubled, and finally spoke.
“Hela…”
She revealed Ruina’s real name.
“Pardon? Could you say it louder?”
“Hela…”
“Sorry?”
After hearing Ruina’s real name, Gobiruarre felt as if someone had smacked him hard on the back of the head.
Hela—if what he knew was correct, there was only one demon who went by that name.
The Sixth Duke, Hela Ebonia.
He wanted to call it a lie, but there was no way the pure princess could be lying.
Gobiruarre tried to keep himself from running out in a panic and thought.
He remembered hearing stories that the Sixth Duke hadn’t shown herself in a long time in the demon realm.
Many had been wondering about her whereabouts.
Why on earth was she here?
Gobiruarre was sure that the goblins had brought in those who had fallen into the trap yesterday, right?
Something seemed strange. The one who had created that trap was Hela Ebonia herself.
Why on earth had she fallen into her own trap?
A flood of questions overwhelmed Gobiruarre. Among all the countless questions, he thought.
Though there were many mysteries surrounding her presence here, that wasn’t the most important thing right now.
If it was true that she was here, then he was in an extremely dangerous situation.
Hela, the 6th Duke of the Demon King’s army. There were many words to describe her.
Among them, two words were most often used when referring to her.
Both of these words were her epithets.
The seven Dukes of the Demon King each had an epithet that represented their characteristics.
The 1st Duke, Redros, had the epithet of “Guardian.”
The 2nd Duke, Gawain, had the epithet of “Observer.”
The 3rd Duke, Lilia, was called the “Ruler.”
The 4th Duke, Valian, was known as the “Vanguard.”
The 5th Duke, the Howling Claw, bore the epithet “Leader.”
The 7th Duke, Shine, was called the “Strategist.”
And she, the 6th Duke, shared a similar title:
The “Usurper.”
She was called the Usurper.
The reason for her epithet as the Usurper was simple.
She hadn’t been given the title of Duke.
She had taken it.
Except for the 1st Duke, Redros, the demons who held the rank of Duke were originally kings of their respective clans.
They had each possessed their own kingdoms but, during the unification of the demon realm, they had been defeated by the current Demon King and had fallen under his rule.
Out of respect for their former status as rulers, the Demon King had created the title of Duke.
Because of this, most of the Duke titles had been bestowed upon the leaders of these clans by the Demon King, and everyone believed that the Duke titles wouldn’t change hands for a long time due to their immense strength.
At least, until she appeared.
Her appearance had been unremarkable. She simply showed up out of nowhere. Her background was terrible—she wasn’t a noble of any clan, nor was she from a powerful race with remarkable abilities.
The first place where she made her name known was in the Knight Order of Redros.
Starting as a mere knight in Redros’s Order, she rapidly grew stronger until, before anyone realized it, she had gathered her own forces.
And then, she killed the vampire lord who had held the title of 6th Duke at the time.
She calmly took over the position of the Duke whose master had disappeared.
The fact that a mere demon had killed a Duke was unprecedented, sparking a great deal of controversy, but in the end, the Demon King acknowledged her and bestowed upon her the title of Duke.
He still remembered the uproar throughout the entire demon realm on the day she was granted the title of Duke.
Although the high-ranking demons and the other Dukes didn’t show it outwardly, they subtly began to keep their distance from her. Meanwhile, those of lower status like Gobiruarre were in awe of her achievements.
They idolized her, for she had boldly demonstrated that even the high and mighty Dukes could be overcome by power.
She had accomplished something they had all thought was impossible, something they had long given up on.
Additionally, her beautiful appearance made her stand out and caused people to perceive her as a noble existence.
However, even someone like her had flaws.
And those flaws were made evident by her second epithet.
This was the reason she was dangerous to him now.
Hela was the only Duke to have a second epithet:
“Mad Dog.”
The reason for her being called Mad Dog was simple. She was notoriously short-tempered.
Rumor had it that she would cut off the hands of anyone who dared touch her body, cut out the tongues of those who insulted her, and behead anyone who challenged her to a fight.
Because of this, it was said that there were dozens of people who had lost their hands after touching her in lust, and countless others who had lost their lives after challenging her, mistaking her delicate appearance for weakness.
But just knowing this wasn’t enough to understand why she was called Mad Dog.
The reason for the nickname was simple: she was addicted to fighting. Like a mad dog.
According to rumors, she was always the one to provoke fights, challenging anyone who spoke to her improperly.
She would draw her sword at the slightest word, constantly provoking others into battle.
It was said that she fought every single day without a moment of peace.
Dangerous, right? That’s what people like us would think, but she probably didn’t even consider such thoughts.
Because she was incredibly powerful.
She wielded both sword and magic. It was said that her swordsmanship teacher had been Redros himself, and that she used his techniques while also possessing a high level of magic.
Moreover, she was one of the few runic mages.
Her strength, using both sword and magic, was likely far beyond anything someone like Gobiruarre could imagine.
But.
Why on earth was someone like her.
Here?
Captured, no less?
Damn it, why?
Gobiruarre, feeling a dizzying panic come over him, asked in a trembling voice once more.
“Lady Aria, is this true? Is Lady Hela really here?”
“Yes, I came here with Hela. Where’s Hela? Also, I’m not Aria.”
Gobiruarre couldn’t answer Reina’s question as she tilted her head and looked at him.
If what the princess was saying was true, then there was no time to waste.
He had to find her before she woke up—or worse, before the goblins laid a hand on her.
Gobiruarre was anxious.
Although he had previously warned the other goblins not to touch the priests, he knew all too well that the impatient goblins wouldn’t just leave a woman alone.
Even if they didn’t go all the way, they would at least lay their hands on her. There was no doubt about it.
And if she woke up to find herself in such a situation, surrounded by goblins…
We are all going to die here today.
Gobiruarre quickly turned away from Reina. He was in such a hurry to head to the prison that he couldn’t even answer the princess’s question about where he was going.
But just as he took a step out of the room to find Hela—
*Bang!*
Something flew past in front of his eyes and crashed into the wall with a loud noise.
And then.
Before he even had time to check what it was, the silhouette of a person began to appear out of the darkness.
White hair gleaming faintly in the torchlight, a body so well-formed that one might mistake her for a succubus even though she wore a nun’s habit that covered her fully, and cold blue eyes reminiscent of the ocean.
And the overwhelming demonic energy that seemed to press down on the space around her.
“Who’s in charge here? I’ll give you ten seconds. Show yourself quickly.”
Gobiruarre instinctively knew.
This was Hela.
As he stood there dumbfounded, Hela spotted him and approached.
“Hmm? Another goblin, I see? Do you know where the leader of this place is? I was told he’s here, but I can’t seem to find him.”
“Are you not going to answer?”
“…I am Gobiruarre, the leader here.”
Gobiruarre barely managed to steady his trembling voice and responded.
“Ah… so you’re the leader?”
At his answer, the corners of her eyes lifted, and a smile began to spread across her face.
Beautiful. Even as his body trembled, this single thought floated through Gobiruarre’s mind.
“Do you have a moment? I think we need to have a little talk.”
However, her gaze was cold, like ice.
Hearing her chilling voice, Gobiruarre thought:
We’re screwed.