Chapter 4: One Disaster After Another

The day after Firin left the Demon Realm, after sleeping in and waking up fully refreshed, Lady Lina finally remembered she had forgotten something rather important.

In fact, if it weren’t for the chieftain of the Troll Tribe coming to report, she might’ve forgotten it completely.

“Lady Lina, about that sacrifice we delivered earlier…”

Lina was stunned for a long moment before the memory finally surfaced.

Apparently, some time ago, the trolls had captured a human princess from the Roland Empire and sent her to the Demon Realm as a tribute—an offering to celebrate the Demon Lord’s awakening.

But now that the Demon Lord had vanished, the offering naturally lost all value.

“Do whatever you want with her,” Lina said casually.

“Just make sure she dies on the continent of Trande. Die in the Roland Empire, and the more tragic, the better. Make her death as high-profile as possible. Let them know—the demons have returned!”

Her pale fingers tapped against the armrest of the throne.

Because of the Demon Lord’s orders before his slumber, the demons had remained quiet for a thousand years.

So quiet, in fact, that the outside world’s fear of them was beginning to fade.

But now that the Demon Lord was gone, this offering had a new purpose—to remind the continent of Trande what it meant to live under demon rule…

The troll chieftain bowed and quickly took his leave.

The overwhelming aura radiating from Lina had made it nearly impossible for him to breathe.

As for the sacrifice herself, well, the Demon Realm had just started sending lower-tier demons to the continent.

It would be easy enough to assign one of them to take care of it along the way…

***

“Mr. Li Xian, wait for me! Please, slow down…”

Sara chased after the figure ahead, panting heavily and looking like she was about to cry.

“Oh, sure.”

Li Xian glanced around at the dense forest surrounding them and finally stopped walking.

The moment he received the request, he had rushed to leave the guild with his client—afraid she might change her mind.

After all, one foot was already stepping into the gold-lined gates of his future.

A full ten thousand gold coins! He couldn’t let those fly away.

Now that they were in the forest, he finally felt he could relax.

With this much distance from town, the task was basically locked in.

Feeling relieved, he turned to wait for the girl behind him to catch up.

Sara had been running nonstop to keep up with him, and now she was completely exhausted.

When she finally reached him, she was barely able to stay on her feet.

Li Xian scratched his head, feeling a little guilty.

‘This girl’s the client, after all. Look at her soft, pale skin—definitely not your average villager. And that clueless, innocent expression… if she didn’t have some kind of powerful background, someone would’ve already tricked her into doing something shady.’

‘All things considered, she’s probably a rich noble’s daughter. A real pampered princess!’

If he married her, wouldn’t that mean he could stop trying so hard?

Li Xian had no interest in things like fame, glory, or holding power over others.

All he wanted was to live a life of complete laziness.

And the rich, beautiful girl in front of him was, without a doubt, a golden opportunity he couldn’t afford to miss!

Once again, Li Xian felt the importance of this mission.

This was more than just some simple task—it might very well be a major turning point in his life.

Strictly speaking, he had only been in this world for ten days.

Looking at the girl in front of him—her forehead slick with sweat, her hands braced on her knees as she gasped for breath—Li Xian started plotting how he might win over this sweet, naive, rich girl.

“By the way, Sara, why are you heading to the imperial capital? And why are you going through this forest of all places…?”

As far as Li Xian knew, there was more than one way to get to the capital.

Sure, if you didn’t take the forest path, the journey would be much longer and more roundabout, but with ten thousand gold coins, you could easily hire a top-tier carriage and get there in five or six days at full speed.

Passing through the forest would still take about three or four days.

There had to be something urgent.

Li Xian silently speculated.

“Well…” Sara froze the moment he asked.

She even forgot to breathe, and the sweat on her forehead now included a few drops of cold sweat brought on by fear.

“Is it something urgent?” Li Xian sensed that something was off.

“Ah… yeah…” Sara nodded quickly, breathing a quiet sigh of relief.

‘Great, just great!’

Li Xian wanted to slap himself.

What kind of question was that? Asking something so personal right off the bat—any normal person would be uncomfortable answering! Now Sara probably had a worse impression of him.

No, this wouldn’t do.

He had to change the subject.

As they walked, Li Xian racked his brain for something else to say.

After much effort, he finally blurted out, “So… Sara, where are your parents? Aren’t they with you? Are they waiting in the capital?”

The moment he spoke, Sara stopped in her tracks.

Li Xian realized something was wrong.

When he turned around, he saw tears streaking down her face.

Panic seized him, and his scalp went numb.

He knew—he had probably said the wrong thing again.

Seeing her lovely face streaked with tears was heartbreaking.

He couldn’t help but walk up to her and crouch down in front of her, gently trying to comfort her.

“What’s wrong?”

“My father and mother… they’re already…” Her voice was thick with grief.

Judging by how fresh her pain sounded, it must have happened recently.

‘Damn it. Another landmine. And a huge one.’

But this time, Li Xian didn’t focus on how badly he’d screwed up.

He just reached out and gently stroked her hair, hoping to ease some of her sorrow.

What he didn’t know was that at that very moment, two figures were slowly approaching the forest’s entrance…