Chapter 6: Humans or Demons

Arsep couldn’t contain his amazement as he saw a human village being visited for the first time in several centuries.

It was surprising that humans were building and living in villages in the barren demon realm, but especially, perhaps because they had been consuming water and occasionally strange tree fruits for a long time, Arsep paid particular attention to their food.

”This is the first time I’ve felt this happy since waking up from my slumber…”

Having happiness as a reason was also amusing.

The village was small, not very large, but surprisingly had everything.

I went to the bakery and bought ordinary clothes to prepare for the future, which made me so happy.

Admiring that what is natural to some can bring such happiness to others, I returned to the castle while carrying her.

Since we had ingredients, cooking was not difficult.

No matter how much a man lives alone, if he lives alone for a long time, his experience with various kinds of cooking naturally broadens.

”…What exactly did you do in the past?”

“I told you. I just worked as a regular guard. I wasn’t much different from the guards we met in the village today.”

“But you made so many dishes with those preservation-like ingredients? To think you made everything by yourself, from stew and salad to even steak and pasta…”

I believe one of the most significant aspects of quality of life is food.

“It wasn’t particularly difficult. At first, I struggled to adapt to the kitchen layout of this castle, but once I got used to it, it was actually comfortable and good, so what.”

So even when I was in the guardhouse and had nothing to do, I read cookbooks or watched related videos.

I never thought of only doing guard work forever, so I prepared various certifications and even thought about wanting to open my own restaurant if I had enough money.

Moreover, even after walking a round trip of two hours, buying various necessary items, and cooking enough for two people, I don’t feel tired at all; there’s no physical problem.

”…But still, the most important thing in food is taste. No matter how quickly it’s served or how good it looks, if it doesn’t taste good, it’s meaningless.”

“Please try it.”

Actually, I wasn’t very confident in the taste.

Even though they look similar, the spices and such are slightly different from what I know, so there’s inevitably going to be issues with seasoning.

But that’s something that can be gradually adapted to, and above all, from Arsep’s perspective, whatever you eat now…

“It’s delicious… I could say it’s the best I’ve ever tasted since I was born… The stew is salty and sweet, great for dipping bread, the steak melts in the mouth, and the spicy pasta has a good balance of flavors… And the salad catches anything that might overwhelm… It’s excellent… I really think I’m glad I was born…”

She couldn’t help but eat it deliciously, even shedding tears like that.

Would someone who ate only water and those strange fruits for months find anything she eats now to be tasteless? Perhaps even if she were to throw all the food bought from the village today into a pot and boil it, she would still find it tasty.

“Maybe you chose the wrong profession? With skills like that, even if you just open your own shop and run it normally, it would be a big hit.”

“But cooking to eat yourself is different from cooking to sell to customers.”

Anyway, it was rewarding to make it since Arsep enjoyed it.

I’d like to buy more ingredients from a larger village if possible, but the closest one was an hour’s walk away, so finding another village seems difficult.

The people from that village also said there were no other villages nearby.

Only human villages are absent, after all.

“I told you it was true?! Why don’t you believe us?!”

“Because it’s nonsense. In the first place, you alone couldn’t approach near the Demon King’s castle.”

“Initially, the Demon King’s castle location has not been revealed. We captured and tortured several mid-level demons to interrogate, but no one knew its location.”

The adventurer’s guild located in the capital.

The adventurer party who met enemies they had never seen in the demon realm and made an emergency escape expressed their grievance.

“So we discovered the Demon King’s castle! We even detected magic power that can only be described as the Demon King using a magic power measuring device!”

A huge castle located in the demon realm, presumed to be the Demon King’s castle.

Not only based on its appearance, but the magic power measured by the magic tool was so immense that it could indeed be considered as the Demon King himself.

“Then why don’t you show it to us? If you detected such magic power, there should be records.”

“Th-that’s…”

But we couldn’t show it to others.

“What? It’s all broken, isn’t it?”

“When the monster we met there approached closely, it suddenly broke.”

When they approached right in front of the Demon King’s castle, the magic tool suddenly cracked and exploded.

The magic tool was overloaded, surpassing the limit of magic power it could measure.

“It looked like a human, but a being with that much magic power couldn’t be human, right?”

The elf nervously fiddled with her arrow and spoke.

Instinctively sensing danger, before the door of the Demon King’s castle opened, she fired a deadly arrow imbued with all her magic and strength.

It was an arrow that would pierce through an enemy’s brow in one shot, no matter what defense they had.

However, the arrow was dodged very easily.

The elf’s arrow, which had an average speed exceeding the speed of sound, was dodged without any trouble.

It wasn’t a significant evasive maneuver, just an absurd act of simply turning her head to dodge.

“But upon further reflection, it’s too soon to conclude that place is the Demon King’s castle. While I definitely felt a monstrous magical power, there was nothing else, was there?”

However, regaining her composure, she realized that she couldn’t be certain it was the Demon King’s castle based solely on that.

The Demon King, having declared war on Ingye, would possess not only individual might but also immense strength of forces.

But despite reaching near the Demon King’s castle, there were no other subordinates, only a single individual appeared?

“Now that you mention it, it makes sense. The Demon King certainly tamed countless armies and various ferocious monsters to make them his subordinates, but all we saw was just one person.”

“…We were all scared of that one person and fled.”

It was a strange occurrence.

“I understand that you’re not lying.”

***

At that moment, a woman with blue hair appeared among the group of adventurers, leaning on a staff.

“But even so, it’s too early to believe everything outright.”

“Guildmaster? Why are you here…….”

As the woman known as the Guildmaster appeared, all eyes focused on her.

She brushed it off with a smile and got to the main point.

“First, we need to verify the facts. We need to find out where that castle is and what exists there.”

The bustling adventurers decided to follow her words.

Since the war between the demon realm and Ingye was in full swing, even such trivial matters couldn’t be taken lightly.

Depending on the situation, it could pose a threat equal to or even greater than the Demon King.

“-This is the background of the war up to here.”

“…It’s so ordinary. Just declaring war casually to dominate the world.”

“Originally, the onset of war starts from trivial matters, and wars only cause hardships for the lower ranks.”

I listened to Arsep explain the war that had broken out between Ingye and the demon realm.

The reason for the war was nothing special; it was simply the Demon King declaring his intent to dominate Ingye.

Until then, even if relations between demons and humans weren’t good, they weren’t that bad.

Still, having a human village boldly existing in the demon realm was hard to understand.

“Of course, I only compiled the stories of the humans who intruded into my castle without permission, so I don’t know the exact facts.”

“By the way, it’s fascinating. So the people who came last time were civilians, right?”

“They’re more like mercenaries than civilians. Anyway, the Demon King declared war on ‘Ingye,’ meaning he declared war on everything in Ingye.”

War seems to exist everywhere you go.

I can’t really comment since I don’t know the circumstances of this world, but I can’t help but wonder if it was necessary to resolve matters through war.

Of course, the Demon King who started the war did so because he wanted to dominate Ingye, so there might have been no other way.

“You also seem to react as if you don’t understand why the war was declared. Didn’t your world have wars?”

“Of course it did. The country I was born in has been at war for decades, and other countries are also at war.”

“All inhabited places seem the same. Wars are started by the weak. The current Demon King is truly a pathetic creature.”

Arsep had a skeptical look about the war.

Perhaps she doesn’t like wars either?

She doesn’t seem to have a personality that enjoys fighting.

“To think that someone who claims to be the lord of the demon realm would declare war just against humans. A true lord of the demon realm should earn the respect and loyalty of humans without needing to wage war.”

She doesn’t seem like the type to enjoy fighting, but since she is from centuries ago, her culture and ideology appear to be significantly different from the present world.

“Did the Great Demon King do that in the past?”

“’Will you declare war?’”

Indeed, not only demons but humans also knelt and showed their respect to me. They were no different from my own people, so why…

“…Even though they are weaker than slimes, they received respect.”

“We agreed not to talk about that story, didn’t we…!”

“I just said so.”

She brought up the story about slimes again, with tears welling up in her eyes.

The more I saw Arsep like that, the more curious I became about what kind of person the current Demon King truly was.

No, I wanted to see firsthand what exactly the demons were like.

She said that demons and humans were all the same, but in the end, I had only seen one demon with my own eyes.