The beastmen worship the strong.
The race with the greatest physical abilities on the continent, the beastmen, believe that they are the true bloodline of kings, which is why they generally do not follow the Demon King.
This was the reason why the wolf girl of the beastmen, Rain, had left her pack. To be more precise, she had been driven out.
“Just wait, I’ll prove I was right by joining His Highness Demon’s army.”
A knight without a lord is just a warrior, and a monster who does not serve the Demon King is no better than a wild animal. This was Rain’s philosophy.
Recently, she had met a great beastman who seemed to share similar thoughts.
The iron lion, Rodon.
With a steel-like body and claws that were unmatched by any weapon, he was truly the strongest beastman.
This proud Rodon served the Demon King.
The Demon King he served was none other than Damon Karkis, known as the Enchanting Demon King.
Seeing this warrior, who had unbending pride, kneel before the Demon King and swear loyalty was enough to ignite Rain’s admiration.
Before she knew it, she was captivated by Rodon.
‘To do that, this training… Hmph!’
Rain’s arm, holding a stone pouch, wobbled dangerously before collapsing.
Eek! With a short scream, Rain’s body rolled on the dirt. Her disheveled hair, like a mane, was covered in sand.
“Ugh… Hah…”
Lying on the ground, Rain gazed at her arm, which she had raised up.
Compared to Rodon’s thick, tree-like arms, hers was just a thin branch.
…Why do I have so much more human blood in me?
Rodon, aside from walking on two legs, was nearly identical to a lion, but she was not.
Except for her wolf ears, sharp fangs, and somewhat sharper claws, she looked almost entirely human.
Perhaps this was the source of her weakness and the real reason she had been cast out from the wolf pack.
“…No, I can’t think like that.”
Shaking her head, Rain dusted herself off and resolutely steeled her heart once more.
Her efforts would be rewarded one day. The thinness of her arms was just a lack of effort.
“To become a great warrior like Rodon… I must work harder… Hmph!”
Only then would she be acknowledged by Demon King Damon and be able to join his army.
Once again, she tied the stone pouch to her arm and stood up, but it wasn’t long before she fell again with a small squeal.
The bustling city of demons and monsters looked like a furnace of life where chaos and vitality intertwined.
The streets were packed with bizarrely shaped shops and tents, and the signboards decorated with glowing stones radiated lights in all colors, constantly luring customers.
Merchants with unique body types bared their teeth and bargained, while dwarven gnomes skillfully brewed magical potions.
From the terrace of a dessert shop, where all these scenes were visible, Damon took a deep breath.
As he stretched, his chest, which was often called the Enchanting Demon King, swayed dramatically.
“Ah, Undris is really nice. The air is different from those small villages. Maybe it’s because we recently swallowed an entire human territory?”
As his territory expanded, Damon’s influence in the Demon King’s council was growing stronger.
At the same time, it seemed his infamous name had spread in the human realm, as the number of enemies invading the dungeon had increased.
What Damon lacked was always exceptional talent that satisfied his ambitions.
“What happened with the issue of etiquette?”
He turned his head slightly and looked at the towering beastman who was standing guard beside him.
Rodon, the iron lion. The best warrior, whom he had carefully enchanted for years, was now guarding Damon.
Rodon spoke in a deep, mountain-like voice.
“His pride is strong, so it doesn’t seem easy.”
“That figures. Among monsters, the Reaper family is considered nobility.”
He was referring to Lauro, the heir of the Reaper family, whom Damon had been trying to make a contract with recently.
Lauro was a promising genius monster whose name had appeared in the prestigious Hell Journal, a prominent demon-world newspaper.
With mastery in dark magic at the level of a grand sorcerer in the human realm, and a sharp intellect that could decipher any runic language, she was a formidable being.
However, her lofty pride was a problem.
“This is troublesome. No matter how many treasures I offer, she refuses, and trying to twist her weaknesses is difficult with her family’s status…”
There is a way to dominate through force, but it is not a wise one. The Reaper clan is one of the top three noble families among the monster races.
No matter how much the Demon King’s army is their own, they could not avoid mutual destruction if they went all out against them.
“Humans can’t do anything good. Anyway, our ultimate goal is the downfall of the human empire.”
“It seems that other Demon Kings are also targeting Lauro, so I’ll hurry and try to make progress.”
“No, take your time. Being too eager can be annoying. You know, if you’re desperate, it shows.”
Even though he was a genius as a Demon King, Damon knew that monsters were still just monsters.
He had no intention of placing Lauro above himself, not even for a moment.
The thrill when someone finally knelt beneath his feet. That was the moment she was waiting for.
“D-Demon King Damon!”
At that moment, the wolf girl, Rain, came running from afar, wagging her tail.
She was holding a familiar bundle of envelopes.
“Oh my. Our wolf is visiting again?”
“Ah, hello! As always, you are beautiful and magnificent! And General Rodon too…!”
Rodon silently looked down at Rain without responding. He was signaling her to get to the point.
After a brief hesitation, Rain handed over an envelope containing one of Undris’s famous Bloodrich cream buns.
She had stood in line since dawn to get them.
“I remembered how much you liked them last time, so I brought some again… Hehe.”
“Fufu.”
Damon covered his mouth and smiled softly.
At this, a look of joy spread across Rain’s face.
“Thank you, wolf.”
“Yes, yes…! I absolutely want to join Demon King Damon’s army someday! If you could at least let me take the entrance test for the
Demon King’s army…!”
Rain’s words, murmured in the Demon King’s ear, gradually faded as Damon’s gaze shifted outside the terrace.
There, she caught sight of a familiar back among the people wandering the market.
A small, cute pair of horns and a young body.
Damon parted his lips and murmured, as if entranced, the name of the person.
“…Rupia?”
His lips curled into a smile, which quickly turned into a sneer.
‘After being beaten by those low-level monsters, I thought I’d never set foot in Undris again.’
It seemed the situation in the dungeon wasn’t going well. That poor dungeon was probably being guarded by monsters.
Or could it be that Rupia, without even understanding her place, had come looking for rumors about Lauro? It was possible.
The fallen Valotus wasn’t planning to check on the half-hearted Demon King, but since they had met, he might as well give a warm welcome.
“…So, every morning…”
“Wolf, you said you wanted to take a test.”
Damon cut her off with a smile.
Rain stopped, looking as if she might have misheard.
“Ah, a-ah! Yes! Yes!”
With an excited look as if she might fly away, she nodded enthusiastically, her tail wagging wildly.
“It’s a simple test. Do you see that little one over there, dragging a cloak that’s too big for them?”
Rain turned her head in the direction Damon pointed.
As she said, there was a girl dragging tattered clothes, her eyes sparkling in front of a shop.
“Want to go mess with her a little?”
“Ah, a… that is….”
Rain hesitated. While the opponent was a child, she undoubtedly had horns on her head, even ifthey were small.
This meant she was of the demon race, the bloodline of a Demon King.
“Is it really okay for me to mess with her…?”
“Wolf, do you think that kid is a Demon King
Are you mocking me, the real Demon King?”
Damon asked in a cold tone, causing Rain to frantically wave her hands in denial.
“Ah, no! It’s absolutely not that…! W-Well then, I’ll be going!”
Under the pressure, Rain didn’t even ask why she had to do such a thing and ran off.
She bit her lip and made up her mind.
‘What is Demon King Damon thinking? It’s just a little tease this time, it will be fine.’
Once she completed this task, she would finally be able to join Damon’s Demon King army, which she had longed for.
Rain quickly followed Rupia, who was walking around, and stepped on her cloak.
“Ugh!?”
Lupia fell forward, blood dripping from her nose.
‘Got it…!’
Rain silently cheered as she turned to run, her Demon King army dream now within reach.
And in that brief moment…
“Huh?”
Everything turned upside down.
Bang!
Someone grabbed her by the back of the head and slammed her into the ground. It wasn’t just once; the person roughly lifted her again, as if one blow wasn’t enough.
Rain couldn’t even scream, her vision blurred by the shock as she looked up at the one lifting her.
A skeletal figure with magical bones and empty, dark eye sockets like a gloomy dungeon.
It was undoubtedly a skeleton, but it was not the low-level monster known as a Skeleton she was familiar with.
“D-D-Death Knight!?”
A monster clearly of a higher rank than herself.
It was a Death Knight, one of the most powerful monsters, and possibly only someone like Rodon could match it in strength.
The person Rain had stepped on was a Demon King, and her bodyguard had appeared.
Frightened, Rain forgot even that Damon and Rodon were watching, and desperately begged.
“P-Please spare me! I’m sorry! Please, spare me!”
“Who are you apologizing to?”
Thrusted roughly onto the ground, Rain swallowed a groan and slowly lifted her head.
She was now before Rupia.
Realizing the situation, Rain bowed deeply and begged for forgiveness
“I-I’m sorry, Demon King! I was foolish! P-Please, forgive me just this once…”
“Ah, it’s fine…”
Wiping her nose, Rupia pulled Rain up and helped her stand.
Rain was relieved by her pure mercy, but as the Death Knight intervened, she quickly fell back into a state of terror.
The Death Knight spoke in a low, eerie voice, like an incantation of death.
“If you had stepped on her foot instead of her cloak…”
The sound of a sword unsheathing from his waist echoed.
Rain shivered, swallowing nervously.
“I-I would have cut off your ankle.”
“Y-Yes! I’ll remember! I won’t forget! This will never happen again…!”
Rain lowered her head and hunched her shoulders, repeatedly apologizing and expressing her gratitude.
No response came.
When she slowly raised her head, Damon andRodon were already moving away through the crowd.
“Hmm, so Rupia has a bodyguard.”
“I’m not sure if they’re mercenaries, but he’s probably a Death Knight.”
“Tsk, what a useless kid. Wher ;e did she find a monster like that? It’s making me jealous.”
Thud.
The two didn’t even glance at Rain, as if she had never existed, and continued walking past her.
“Well, since we met, we should at least say hello. It’s a Death Knight we’re talking about. What do you think, Rodon? Is it okay?”
“Of course, Demon King. If you give the command, I will turn them to dust.”
“Haha, that sounds good. But, if we take them from Rupia, they could become an ally. Let’s avoid taking dangerous actions.”
“I understand.”
“Oh, and—”
Suddenly remembering, Damon dropped the Bloodrich cream bun Rain had brought earlier onto the ground and spoke to her.
“I don’t really like this. I’m tired of it.”
A single cream bun fell from the envelope, rolling and landing under Rodon’s foot.
Squish. Red strawberry jam and cream oozed out like blood and tears. Rodon, oblivious, stepped right over it and walked away.
Rain shakily picked up the cream bun that had spilled onto the ground.
With a battered face, she gazed vacantly at Damon and Rodon’s retreating figures.
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