The Society of the Demon Realm.
I didn’t know much about the society of the Demon Realm.
However, even as someone from centuries ago, after asking Arsep, a native demon, I learned that the Demon Realm is still a strictly stratified society.
To begin with, demons are assigned ranks from birth.
Their initial rank—low, middle, or high—is determined by the innate magical power they are born with.
Demons ranked as middle or lower can never break through the boundaries of their rank, no matter how hard they try.
Even if a low-ranking demon achieves strength equal to that of a high-ranking demon, they won’t be treated as one unless they possess the unique dominance that high-ranking demons are inherently born with.
Of course, there have been rare cases of low-ranking demons who later developed the dominance of high-ranking demons, but it’s said that this is simply due to their latent abilities manifesting belatedly.
Ultimately, everything is about talent—demons are a race bound by fate from birth.
“So, demons lack familial affection like that which humans have for their parents and children. A partner is merely a means to produce offspring, and a child is just a vessel to carry on one’s will.”
Arsep expressed strong distaste for this aspect of demon society.
“Do you know what happens if a child of a high-ranking demon is born without meeting their parents’ expectations?”
“No way, they abandon them?”
“No, they kill them on the spot. Some even devour them alive, regardless of the fact that they might be mere newborns who haven’t even opened their eyes.”
“Wow…”
Arsep said that this was why she disliked demons, despite the fact that they possess intelligence and emotions not much different from those of humans.
What she resented most was that they acted on instinct rather than rationality.
She told me that this was about all I needed to know regarding demons, saying that the rest was just the usual pitfalls of a hierarchical society.
This sounded all too familiar, given that similar issues exist in human societies as well, making it easy to imagine.
It seems that adjusting to a medieval worldview is indeed challenging with a modern mindset.
“But don’t you find it strange, even though you yourself are a demon?”
Now that I thought about it, Arsep, who had just expressed these opinions, was also a demon.
I couldn’t decide whether to call this self-loathing or not.
However, it was clear that Arsep was the complete opposite of the demons she described.
”Well, I am the Demon Lord, after all. From the start, I’m fundamentally different from those beasts.”
“Huh, yet you’re so weak that even a Hero’s headstone could—”
“Are you enjoying this?!”
Yes, even now, she was playfully patting me with her tiny hands.
It’s hard to imagine that someone who calls herself the Great Demon Lord would be doing such things.
Usually, a Demon Lord is associated with a solemn image, but Arsep had none of that.
Honestly, though, that’s what made it better.
***
“Whew… Anyway, are you ready to head out around noon?”
“Noon? Where are we going?”
After playfully hitting me with her small fists for a while, Arsep took a deep breath and stood up.
Now that I thought about it, she had mentioned last night that we’d be going somewhere around noon today.
“Did you forget? We’re heading to a demon city.”
It came back to me.
While I had initially wanted to go to the Fairy Realm to buy ingredients for making a cake, Arsep suggested instead that we visit a demon city.
She insisted that if we were going to live in the Demon Realm, it would be essential to see for ourselves what demons are like, even if it meant risking some danger, so we agreed to go today.
It seemed like a good idea to strike while the iron was hot, and I was also curious to see what the faces of those demons looked like, especially the ones who kept sending weird junk to my castle.
***
“So, there’s one thing.”
“Yes?”
“Demons are pickier than humans. It won’t be easy for you to go there looking as you do now. Although Flua is a Dark Elf and won’t draw much attention, you’re human.”
“Isn’t it enough to wear the hood with the horns?”
“Of course not. More importantly, demons don’t judge others by appearance but by their magical power. Your magic is…”
“My magic is…?”
Arsep trailed off, looking conflicted as she spoke about my magic.
“It’s not exactly demon magic, but it’s not human magic either. Wherever we go, it’s bound to stand out among the demons.”
After making this cryptic remark, she pulled a small box out of her pocket.
It looked like it might contain a piece of jewelry.
“Try wearing this.”
“A necklace?”
Inside the box was a necklace.
It wasn’t adorned with any gems; it was just a simple, thin silver chain.
“This necklace will mask your magic, making it seem like demonic magic.”
“Really? Is there a spell on it?”
“No, it’s a necklace crafted from the bones of a monster that devoured thousands of demons. Without any spell, it will naturally cloak your magic as demonic magic.”
“You even made a necklace from a monster’s bones? That’s fascinating.”
“…That’s rich, coming from someone who made a coffin out of a golem’s body.”
“That was just a small hobby.”
“Who in the world has coffin-making as a hobby…? Well, I guess it’s better than nothing.”
Arsep looked resigned.
Regardless, we set off together toward the city where demons lived.
I hoped we wouldn’t run into any unnecessary trouble with the demons.
But I was certainly looking forward to seeing the face of the one who kept sending bizarre junk to my castle.
I had prepared a special coffin just for that demon.
“Sigh…”
“Why are you sighing?”
“I never thought I’d be wearing such a childish mask at my age.”
As we headed toward the demon city, I couldn’t help but sigh.
The distance itself wasn’t an issue, but my current outfit was troubling.
Wearing a robe with larger horns than usual was one thing, but adding a skull-patterned mask felt embarrassingly childish.
***
The reason I wore the mask was to look like a demon.
Even though demons don’t put much importance on appearances, looking obviously human would undoubtedly cause issues.
“I think it looks cool—don’t you? It’s a special mask with a blue glow around the eye area.”
“…It’s truly hard to hold back my admiration for this mask.”
“Bear with it for a bit. I endured similar discomfort whenever I was in human towns or the Fairy Realm.”
For reference, Arsep apparently found it rather suffocating when she was in human villages or cities.
This was understandable, given that to conceal her identity as a demon, she had to wrap her wings around her waist as if they didn’t exist, and her tail as well, making it very uncomfortable to move around.
As soon as we reached an inn, she would immediately take off her outerwear and stretch, and now I understood why.
In my case, it wasn’t so much that the mask was uncomfortable, but more that it felt embarrassingly silly.
“…But you really do look like a demon now.”
Standing beside me, Flua looked me up and down, seemingly quite pleased with my appearance.
It made me wonder if children’s fascination with skeletons crossed not only countries but even dimensions.
She seemed a bit excited, turning around me to inspect my outfit.
It even felt like she was having fun.
I had worried about Flua being scared of visiting a demon city.
Yet, she didn’t seem fazed at all.
In fact, she looked even more energetic than when we went to human towns.
“Aren’t you afraid of demons, Flua ?”
“…I’m not scared.”
“Is that so? So you like them?”
Flua shook her head.
“…I don’t know any other demons. So I don’t dislike or like them. There’s only one demon I know and like.”
“I don’t know any other Dark Elves, but I like you, Flua .”
Flua clung to Arsep’s hand.
It seemed she had grown fond of Arsep.
Perhaps it was because Arsep had given her bread when they first met, and since coming to the castle, they’d bathed together and slept in the same room and even in the same bed, growing quite close in the meantime.
“Well, that’s nice to hear.”
Though I still felt a bit awkward.
“By the way… when do we get there if we keep walking like this?”
It was nice that the two of them were getting along, but on the other hand, it had already been two hours since we left the castle.
We hadn’t come across a town, a city, or even a demon—not even a trace of any monsters.
The reason for this?
We were currently walking through a barren canyon.
The canyon wasn’t as hot as a desert; in fact, it was even slightly chilly.
But the desolate, apocalyptic vibe of the Demon Realm and today’s overcast weather made the scenery incredibly striking in various ways.
I wondered how much longer we’d have to walk.
“It takes time to reach the city. It’ll probably take us another three hours. If we didn’t have to take breaks because of me, we’d arrive in two.”
“Then how about I carry you both instead?”
“…I can’t walk for that long either.”
The distance we had to walk was considerable, so both Arsep and young Flua were struggling to keep up.
If I’d known it would be like this, I should’ve brought a cart and carried them along the way.
If it were just one person, I’d carry them and run, but carrying two would be uncomfortable, especially for them.
Or perhaps if I carried one under each arm…
***
Caw—!
Caw-caw—!
At that moment, I noticed a flock of crows flying overhead.
“There are crows in the Demon Realm too?”
“It’s rare to see them like this…”
Birds tend to appear wherever there are corpses.
But for so many to gather at once like that…
There had to be hundreds of them.
Zzt—! Zzzzt—!
As Arsep observed the crows, we suddenly saw massive bats, as large as people, flying in the same direction as the crows.
“Are they being chased by those bats? But aren’t bats nocturnal creatures?”
“Maybe those bats are fleeing from something as well.”
I pointed in the direction the bats were flying.
There, a creature much larger than the bats, with reptilian features and broad wings, was soaring through the sky.
“A dragon… No, it’s a wyvern.”
At first, I thought it was a dragon, but according to Arsep, it was a wyvern.
A subspecies of dragons, wyverns typically lack the intelligence or strength of true dragons.
“It’s strange. We haven’t seen a single monster—not even a tiny insect—and now all this is happening.”
Oddly enough, the wyvern also seemed to be fleeing from something rather than chasing the bats.
I wondered what could be chasing even a wyvern.
I’d heard that wyverns were considered one of the more dangerous types of monsters in the Demon Realm.
After all, they’re still a part of the dragon lineage, despite being a subspecies.
“Um, over there…”
Suddenly, Flua tugged on my sleeve, gesturing for me to look behind us.
“Oh, so that’s why the wyvern was fleeing.”
I finally understood why the wyvern had been so frantic.
Behind us, a massive storm larger than Arsep’s castle was approaching.
In the human world, it would probably be called a tornado.
The storm’s terrifying force devoured everything in its path.
No wonder the wyvern had fled.
“I suppose even a wyvern would flee from something like that.”
“Why are you so calm about this?! Hide quickly! That’s not just a natural disaster!”
As I was marveling at the sight, Arsep shouted urgently.
She insisted that it wasn’t an ordinary tornado.
“Not just a natural disaster? Then what is it?”
“It’s a dragon! I can feel a dense concentration of dragon magic within that storm…!”