The ones who appeared outside are said to be similar to heroes who gathered to subjugate the Demon Lord.
But didn’t she just introduce herself as the Demon Lord a moment ago? Is that not a problem?
“Exactly! I am not the Demon Lord they are looking for!”
“Didn’t you say you were the Demon Lord earlier?”
“I said I’m the Great Demon Lord, not just a Demon Lord!”
Demon Lord or Great Demon Lord—aren’t they the same thing?
In any case, she seems to feel terribly wronged.
Usually, when one hears the term “Demon Lord,” they imagine someone who does evil and terrible deeds.
For that reason, heroes from all over the world gather to fight against the Demon Lord.
So, it seems natural that those people would come here to subjugate the self-proclaimed Demon Lord standing in front of me.
“Listen. We must first understand why those people want to subjugate the Demon Lord to make sense of it.”
Arsep said we could understand if we listen to the story.
“Isn’t it just because you’re the Demon Lord?”
“No, that’s not it. The reason they want to subjugate the Demon Lord is that the Demon Lord is at war with the humans. Several human kingdoms have placed a bounty on the Demon Lord’s head.”
The problematic Demon Lord who waged war against humans.
“But the important thing here is that I am not that Demon Lord with the bounty on her head. I only woke up from my slumber less than a year ago!”
“That means…”
“The Demon Lord they’re after and I, the Great Demon Lord Arsep, are completely different beings! After all, I’ve been asleep for more than twenty centuries!”
Ah, so that’s how it is.
According to Arsep, she’s a Demon Lord from a much older time, not the one who started the war.
But for some reason, humans think she’s the Demon Lord who caused the war, and as a result, she’s unfairly on the verge of being subjugated.
In short, the Demon Lord they’re trying to subjugate is not the Great Demon Lord Arsep standing before me.
“Then why not explain the situation to them?”
“I’ve tried many times, but humans don’t believe the words of demons. They just tell me to stop lying.”
“But even if you’re not the Demon Lord who started the war, you are still a Great Demon Lord, right? And not just any ordinary Demon Lord—you’re the Great Demon Lord, so your power must be incredible, right?”
I more or less understood the situation, but I still couldn’t understand why Arsep looked so bewildered.
If she proudly introduces herself as the Great Demon Lord, it’s only natural to think she possesses far greater power than an ordinary Demon Lord.
“Well, yes! I am Arsep, the ruler of the Demon Realm!”
“Then why not just drive them away with your power?”
“…Th-that’s difficult.”
However, she said it’s hard.
Once again, she fidgeted with her fingers, her voice shrinking.
“Why is it difficult?”
“Because I’ve been asleep for so long, My body doesn’t move the way I want it to, and I can’t muster my strength properly. At this rate, I might be weaker than some low-rank demons…”
Her words were filled with worry and regret.
As she mentioned before, it seems that her long slumber has left her unable to use her full power.
It’s probably like when a person wakes up after sleeping for a long time, and their body feels stiff and sore.
Maybe it’s like muscle loss, or how the body’s functions decline…
It seems demons aren’t exempt from such things either.
“Judging by your reaction, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.”
‘I lost count after about the 29th time. I don’t even know how many times humans have come looking for me.’
Arsep’s eyes reflected her boredom.
“So how did you resolve it last time?”
Since this wasn’t the first time, I wondered how she had dealt with it before.
“I hide inside the castle until the humans left. And… those damned humans smashed the vases and emptied all the treasure chests as they left… sniff.”
Now she’s on the verge of tears.
She’s the Great Demon Lord, yet she hide from the humans invading her castle until they left. How pitiful.
“The treasure chests I can understand, but why break the vases?”
“To sum it up, it goes something like this.”
The Great Demon Lord Arsep.
She claims to have been a great ruler of the Demon Realm centuries ago, but due to personal reasons, she fell into a long slumber and only recently woke up.
However, because of her extended sleep, she’s now in a state where she can’t use most of her power. Meanwhile, humans have mistaken her castle for that of the Demon Lord they’re after and have come looking for her.
As a result, in her weakened state, she couldn’t drive away the humans who mistook her for the war-causing Demon Lord.
“Yes! That’s exactly it! I am being wronged! Why should I be subjugated when I have nothing to do with the humans they’re talking about?! I didn’t even care about humans in the first place…!”
Arsep seems genuinely upset.
“…I see.”
After hearing her story, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
From what I can tell, Arsep really doesn’t seem like someone who would start a war.
“I’m truly wronged… What crime have I committed for them to want to take my head…?”
Could someone who cries like a child really wage a war?
***
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Even so, the people outside seem ready to break down the castle gate.
“Ugh… At this rate, they’ll break in…”
At the sound of the booming noise, Arsep trembled.
“I’ll go out and try talking to them.”
“R-Really? But what if they attack you…?”
“Well, I’m human, right? At the very least, they should be willing to talk to another human.”
I had done similar things when I worked as a security guard at an apartment.
Whenever disputes arose between residents, I often stepped in as a mediator.
And since they wouldn’t even talk to Arsep, maybe they’d listen to me, an obvious human.
“By the way, are you living here alone? This place is huge, but you seem to be the only one here.”
***
I walked down the corridor, guided by Arsep, to leave the castle.
As I could tell from looking outside, this castle was beyond enormous.
It was too vast to simply call it “big,” yet strangely, there didn’t seem to be anyone else living here other than her.
“There were many subordinates in the past… but too much time has passed, so they either went their own way or perhaps they’ve reached the end of their lifespan.”
“I see.”
Arsep answered with a bitter smile.
I didn’t know how long demons lived, but if she had been asleep for more than twenty centuries, it was hard to imagine how long that time would feel by human standards.
Does that mean the Arsep standing in front of me is at least several thousand years old? Yet, she looks younger than me?
“This is the entrance to the castle.”
While I was still pondering the concept of demon ages, we had already arrived at the entrance of the castle.
“I’ll hide well over here, so I hope you can handle things smoothly.”
Arsep quickly hide behind one of the castle statues.
She’s fast.
Now, with only her head cautiously peeking out from behind the statue, she was sneaking glances at me.
Honestly, just from this, she looked like a child.
Well, I should probably see what kind of people are outside first.
Since I could communicate with Arsep, maybe I could talk things through with them, too.
***
Creak!
I opened the tightly shut castle gate.
Whoosh!
An arrow.
Before the door was fully open, an arrow came flying towards me.
I tilted my head slightly to dodge it and saw the people at the entrance, their faces showing shock.
“A human?! Why is there a human in the Demon Lord’s castle? No, more importantly, you just dodged my arrow like it was nothing…?”
The one holding the bow was a woman.
With her pointed ears, she looked like an elf straight out of a fantasy.
The others were just as surprised.
There were four people in total standing in front of the gate.
One held a staff, likely a wizard.
Another was the elf with the bow.
The other two wielded a sword and a spear, so they were probably warriors.
“Uh, hello?”
I greeted them and tried to explain that this wasn’t the castle of the Demon Lord they were looking for.
If possible, I wanted to politely ask them to check their destination again.
But…
“There’s no way a human could be in the Demon Lord’s castle! You must be a servant sent by the Demon Lord!”
Looks like Arsep wasn’t exaggerating about them.
“Something’s definitely off… There’s no way a human would be in the Demon Lord’s castle! Be careful! If you let your guard down, you’ll be in danger!”
Then, the man holding the spear suddenly rushed at me.
These people don’t seem to have any intention of talking things through.
Whether demon or human, they seem to think that anything that comes out of the Demon Lord’s castle must be an enemy.
“…Huh?”
Thud!
I grabbed the spear.
“Look, why don’t we talk before things get violent?”
You shouldn’t just try to stab someone out of the blue.
This guy looked like he was just about 20, a young adult fresh out of school.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Let me introduce myself; I’m just—”
“Step back! I’ll turn him to ashes!”
Before I could finish, the spearman gave up on his spear and retreated after hearing the wizard’s command.
Now holding the abandoned spear, I saw flames suddenly rise at my feet.
Fwoosh—!
A bright light accompanied by a warm sensation spread around me.
It felt like basking in the morning sun.
“No way. It was a direct hit, and yet you’re completely fine?”
Why are they so surprised?
I dodged the arrow because it was just a bit too slow.
I grabbed the spear because the thrust was weak.
And that magic just now… felt like it was meant to keep me warm.
It would be useful to use during winter, like a portable heater.
Magic sure is convenient.
“I’m just a guard… Oh, right, since it’s a castle, you can think of me as a gatekeeper. Anyway, this is the Demon Lord’s castle, but it’s not the one you’re looking—”
I brushed the dust off my body as I spoke.
This isn’t the Demon Lord’s castle you’re searching for.
You’ve come to the wrong place.
Fortunately, everyone seemed shocked enough to stop attacking, so now I could finally try to talk.
However…
Clang!
“…Did the sword just break?”
One of the swordsmen tried to ambush me, but the sword he swung snapped instead.
“This is beyond what we expected. Let’s retreat for now!”
At the leader’s command, the group disappeared in an instant, vanishing in a flash of white light.
It seemed the wizard had cast another spell, this time to teleport them away.
There had been flames under my feet earlier, too.
Does this mean the situation has been resolved?
At any rate, the unwelcome guests have fled the Demon Lord’s castle.
“Hey, is everything okay now?”
I turned to Arsep, telling her the situation was over.
She was staring at me with a dumbfounded expression, her mouth agape.
“H-How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“You just took those humans’ attacks like they were nothing! Even though they weren’t top-tier warriors, anyone who ventures into the Demon Realm must have some level of skill… But you handled them so easily…?”
“That’s a good point, isn’t it?”
“I definitely got hit by the sword, but instead of being pierced, the sword broke instead.”
“How would I know how I did it?”
Arsep rushed over to me, demanding answers, but I truly had no idea what I had done.
Seriously, how did that happen?
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.
Lol