“Melu, what do you mean by that?” Kurei asked, confused.
“I think the Demon King might be hiding some secret from us.” Melu replied. “Think about it carefully. Doesn’t the current Demon King feel different from before in some ways?”
Different in some ways…
Kurei thought back carefully to what had happened in the Demon King’s Castle ruins. She did feel like something about the Demon King seemed off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on exactly what…
That’s right!
“The Demon King doesn’t seem to like showing his face much anymore!”
“I noticed that too. In the past, the Demon King mentioned to me that wearing the Demon King Armament felt quite stuffy. He didn’t like keeping the mask on for long periods.”
Kurei understood the point Melu was making.
After all, the two of them had once been maids in the royal court. Through daily interactions, they had noticed many small details about the Demon King that even others—or the Demon King himself—might not have picked up on.
“Kurei, you still haven’t told me in detail how you ran into the Demon King at the ruins.” Melu recalled.
Kurei recounted the entire encounter at the Demon King’s Castle ruins to Melu.
“Oh, so that’s how it went…”
“That should definitely be the Demon King himself. After all, the awkward situations I experienced when I first entered the castle… no one else would know about those.”
“Wait. That’s not right.”
“What’s wrong? Did something not add up? All the details the Demon King mentioned matched perfectly.”
“No, I’m not talking about the Demon King. I’m talking about that human you encountered.”
Kurei paused. “Oh, you mean that pink-haired girl…”
“How did such a weak human even get inside the Demon King’s Castle ruins? That’s way too strange.”
“She probably came in with the other clergy and got separated later.”
“Did the Demon King kill her?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Did you see the body?”
“No, I didn’t see a body.”
Kurei shook her head.
She remembered the Demon King had only taken the human girl’s clothes as proof that the pink-haired girl was dead.
After all, the Demon King was incredibly strong. Killing a weak human in an instant would have been effortless.
“Melu, did you think of something?” Kurei asked curiously.
Melu fell silent.
“Your head works better than mine. Did you spot any abnormalities?”
“I have a guess, but it’s so ridiculous that saying it out loud feels like nonsense.”
Melu closed her eyes and stayed quiet for a long while.
“Or maybe we could… mm… ah.”
After swallowing the food Kurei had prepared, Via made a pained expression. It wasn’t that Kurei’s cooking was bad—on the contrary, her skills ranked at the top among demonkin.
It was just that, after experiencing human-world cuisine, these ingredients felt downright bizarre.
“Meow meow?”
Little Ha looked at the plate full of purple, viscous swamp toad and made a questioning sound.
“Little Ha, do you want some?”
Via speared a piece of the swamp toad with her fork and held it in front of Little Ha.
“Meow meow!”
Little Ha shook her head vigorously, jumped down from the table, and showed clear disgust.
“Even the cat doesn’t want to eat it? Sure enough, demonkin food still isn’t great.”
Via sighed.
Still, after Kurei’s preparation, the unappealing-looking food was at least edible.
The taste wasn’t particularly good either…
At least eating this would replenish quite a bit of mana.
“Whatever. I’ll just have to get used to it. From now on, this is what I’ll be eating.”
Late at night.
“Running around for so long really wore me out… Ha…”
Via yawned.
She glanced out the window and saw Little Ha outside, hiding in a patch of grass, probably getting ready to hunt mice.
After silently wishing Little Ha luck, she returned to the bed, pulled back the covers, and slipped inside.
The moment the warm blanket covered her, sleepiness washed over her.
She was exhausted from the long journey.
“I’ll deal with everything… tomorrow… I really need… to sleep…”
BOOM!!
While sound asleep, Via suddenly heard a tremendous crash that jolted her awake. She forced her eyes open and saw flames lighting up the window outside.
What… was going on?
“Demon King! This is bad, this is bad!!” Kurei’s panicked voice came from outside the window.
“Is that Kurei?”
Via felt dazed.
She had no idea what was happening.
“Demon King, come out quickly!” Kurei shouted. “There are villains attacking the town! We’re under assault—”
Before Kurei could finish, another loud explosion sounded from outside.
Then came strange noises at the door.
Someone had broken through the defensive magic Via had set up outside.
Thump!
The room door flew off its hinges and slammed into the wall. A black shadow burst inside.
It really was an enemy attack!
Via quickly raised her wrist, about to activate the armlet and start up the Demon King Armament, but the black shadow moved with terrifying speed. It leaped onto the bed and pinned her wrist down.
She saw a figure in black clothing straddling her.
This black-clothed person was at the Transcendent tier and completely overpowered her.
From beneath the figure’s hood came a voice filled with alarm.
“Ah?”
“Demon King, I’ll protect you! Damn enemy, don’t you dare harm the Demon King!!”
Kurei shouted with impressively realistic acting as she charged into the room and slapped the light switch.
The lights came on, illuminating everything in the room.
This is over. Via’s mind went blank. Her eyes stung from the sudden brightness and could barely stay open.
“Huh?” Kurei froze. Instead of the promising young male demonkin she expected to see lying in bed, she saw the human girl she had encountered back at the Demon King’s Castle ruins.
“Where’s the Demon King? Why isn’t he in the room?”
The black-clothed figure pulled off her hood. Long green hair cascaded down, brushing against Via’s cheek.
“Uh… um…”
Via’s cheek twitched. She wanted to run, but she was pinned down tightly and couldn’t move an inch.
This was bad.
The current situation was extremely bad.
The black-clothed figure was none other than her demonkin maid, Melu.
Melu stared at Via and demanded in an angry voice:
“Answer my question—who are you?”