Deon Hardt was away during this time. The Duke crumpled the note and frowned slightly.
'Why now...'
How long has it been since the bet started? At least he needed to get rid of him before the war with the demon realm really broke out.
He glanced at Cruel and saw that he was expressionless as always. Looking at the seemingly calm appearance, the Duke's judgment was distorted for no reason, and the corners of his mouth were raised and he smiled.
"At this point, I'm really impressed. Deon Hardt is away by order of His Majesty."
"..."
"How can he be so lucky?"
Was the world showing its blessings?
If you fail every time and miss the timing, you will start to get frustrated.
"I hope he comes back soon."
Purple eyes shone eerily. Cruel, who was watching this, lowered his gaze without saying a word.
The Duke, who was nervously scribbling a pen on a document in a space where they were alone, stopped his hand when a thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Now that I think about it, I understand that there are more people who will be annoyed by Deon Hardt's absence..."
The idiots who came to him the evening the Emperor announced the war with the demon realm and made stupid comments.
They were truly shaken by the Deon Hardt vampire theory and insisted that it be investigated. It was so absurd that those people were aristocrats.
Whether Cruel was looking at him with unknown eyes or not, the Duke muttered with a wide smile on his face.
"You're so... lucky."
***
The Empire declared a halt to war. The notification that a war with the demon realm was likely to begin was the reason.
This news quickly spread across the continent. Each kingdom's response to this varied.
"Thank God..."
"We survived! We lived!"
"Uh-huh-huh!"
There was also a kingdom that was relieved and cheered that the fearsome Emperor had stopped the war.
"That's shameless. You start a war on your own and then stop it on your own. What on Earth do they take us for?"
"If they say they will stop arbitrarily, do we have to listen? That arrogant bastard."
"Our kingdom will never provide support to the Empire."
There were kingdoms that put aside the demon realm issue and were just angry at the shameless and arrogant behavior.
"I hate the Empire, but in the current situation, keeping the Empire from falling is the top priority. We can't stand by and watch things collide and collapse in an incomplete state."
"The Empire is the human world's first and strongest defense wall. If the Empire falls, it is the same as the destruction of the entire human world. The war so far has consumed a significant amount of materials and troops, so we cannot just sit back and relax."
"Even if you don't like the Empire, you must do it for the Empire now. Something has to be done."
There was also a kingdom that was a little more clever.
And surprisingly, a commonality was discovered among all these kingdoms. The Emperor, who was the first to discover this through the report, smiled softly and showed his teeth.
"It looks like the peacock's moves worked quite well."
Among the many leaders of quite a few kingdoms, at least one of them deserved to make that statement.
Surprisingly enough, not even the kingdoms that showed strong hostility to the Empire ever uttered empty words such as 'I'd rather be on the side of the demon realm.'
***
I threw away the tonic.
Remember really took care of me. I was so ridiculously anxious that the scary butler would find evidence and interrogate me if I abandoned it in the human world that I ended up crossing over to the demon realm instead of the human world before tossing it away.
Perhaps because it was a liquid, it was incredibly heavy.
Anyway, I arrived at the Demon King's Castle without any major problems. I checked my ID at the entrance and entered with confidence... What was this? As soon as I entered the castle, almost all the demons passing by turned their heads towards me.
They're done this before, but they never looked at me with this burning passion, so what was it?
"Demon!"
"It's Demon!"
"Demon has arrived!"
"Welcome!"
What is it? What is this?
More and more demons were gathering around. I hesitated and retreated due to the unusual force.
Either way, the demons wearing red heart-shaped brooches on their chests raised their hands and shouted 'Demon'. I'm so fucking scared!
I didn't have the courage to break through them and run all the way to the inner city, so I just froze and shivered, when the crowd parted and a girl appeared.
"Demon! welcome!"
"... Lirinel?"
"Yes!"
Oh my god, Lirinel! You came to save me!
Now that the Commander of the 11th Corps has passed by, these crazy people will also fall away. As I was looking at Lirinel with that thought in mind, something caught my eye. Something red on her chest...
My brain stopped for a moment.
'... What? Why is there a brooch on Lirinel's chest?'
That's not all. Her clothes were also somewhat strange.
A red heart shape was embroidered in the center of the black hat that Lirinel was wearing. I was quite uneasy because I could see red numbers even on the black cloth she was holding in her hands...
"Master! It's the leader!"
"Oh, cult leader!"
... Are you the cult leader?
Probably not. Probably not. That cute kid can't do that.
Although she was a demon.
Lirinel spreads the black cloth in her hand, lightly stomping on my hope that there was some mistake. A cloth with a red heart engraved in the center fluttered, and at the same time, a tremendous roar rang out.
"Waaah!"
"Demon."
"Demon!"
After all, these people were Demon Cult believers?!
It certainly seemed small until not long ago, but when on Earth did it become so prominent? What was the Demon King doing to let it get to this point?
I looked back at Lirinel, who seemed to be the culprit of all of this. She was looking at the demons shouting 'Demon' with a happy smile.
"Lirinel?"
"Yes, Demon!"
"What is all this?"
"They are people who respect you, Demon! How do you feel?"
"How... how is it... Ah, blood pressure..."
Oh no. Let's calm down. Here, if my blood pressure rose significantly or I vomited blood, my doctor, Ben, would come running. I can't start working him again as soon as I come to the Demon King's Castle.
I had a hard time calming my mind and quietly called out to Lirinel.
"What... who told you this?"
"I entrusted the investigation to the Commander of the 2nd Corps! I heard that the religion of the human world is like this, isn't it?"
"It's not wrong at all..."
Dvelania!
You have to be playful, too. What if you ruin an innocent child like this?
First of all, I have to get rid of this disturbing group. Since Lirinel was the leader of the cult, I can tell her, right?
"Thank you, but I'm a little tired... Can you disperse them?"
Right now.
It would be better if they disbanded forever.
"Oh, that...! Of course! Sorry, Demon. I guess I was too preoccupied..."
Lirinel waved her hand in a panic. As if nothing had happened, the large crowd suddenly disappeared. Lirinel looked at the background, which was much quieter than before, and spoke carefully.
"Are you going to the Demon King? I'll take you to the door."
"... Please."
If the cult leader is next to me, those crazy people won't stick to me.
It was a truly terrifying welcome ceremony.
***
"You're here. You came sooner than I thought."
The Demon King, who was sitting in front of his office desk processing documents, raised his head and smiled.
However, even for a moment, the smile disappeared from the Demon King's face as he met red eyes. His eyes narrowed as if he noticed something.
He got up from his seat, walked slowly, and stood in front of Deon.
"You..."
He bent slightly at the waist, put his face close to his, and made eye contact. The eerie reversed eyes looked into red eyes.
"You heard something important."
What? What is it? What did I hear that made him so unable to manage his facial expressions?
He reached out and grabbed my chin and lifted it up. He made eye contact as if he could see right through me and asked quietly, as if reciting something.
***[1]
"Do you want to tell me?"
"..."
"Yeah, probably not. But aren't you worried about how I will accept this situation? Do you think your life might be in danger?"
There was no answer.
The Demon King was actually able to get a decisive hint from that.
If it was information about the Demon King or Emperor, the demon realm or the Empire, he would not have been this agitated. However, the silence was too blatant to say that I was on the emperor's side. If I was really on the Emperor's side, I would have made a convincing case.
So, all that remained was...
"The Emperor has thrown the bet."
"... That's right."
"A shame."[2]
Well, the timing was right, so it was only natural.
'Did he keep silent about this to him because he was shaken or did he just not want me to find out?'
Well, if the Emperor had decided to give up the bet, then there was no need for the Demon King to uphold it, either.
"If I hadn't noticed, you wouldn't have told me until the end, right?"
"..."
"It's okay. It's not like I don't understand."
But...
He really needed to get this nailed down.
The hand holding his chin slid down and cupped his neck.
Naturally, his thumb reached the location of the brand and pressed it firmly, and Deon's body trembled quietly, as if he was afraid of the situation.
"I'm sure you know where you need to be."
Did he think he would let him go if he run away?
No matter how freely he traveled between the Empire and the Demon King's Castle, it was difficult to forget this.
'This is where you need to be.'
"There is no answer."
"..."
"Why are you holding onto my pants again?"
He narrowed his eyes and smiled.
He let go of Deon's neck and turned around to open the window. An open landscape unfolded with three round moons were clearly visible.
"Isn't the moon pretty?"
"..."
"You are weak to sunlight. So choose a place where you don't have to worry about the sun. It's always night, but the moon shines so brightly, so what's wrong?"
Against this background, he spread his arms out towards Deon and smiled broadly. He was backlit due to the bright moonlight.
"If you stay here, all demons except me will bow to you. No, if you want, I will kneel, too."
If you were to ask him objectively whether Deon Hardt was a person worthy of going to this extent to capture him, he would shake his head without hesitation.
However, for the Demon King, it was more important than anything else to find someone who could drive away his boredom, and it was also important to win the implicit game he was currently playing with the Emperor.
That's why he was able to speak without hesitation.
"If there's anything you want, I'll give it to you. If you choose this place, I won't make a big deal about going out to the human world like I did until now. If you want the land of the human world, I can occupy it and give it to you."
Due to his position, the Emperor of the Empire would have many restrictions on giving anything to Deon Hardt.
But this was a place where the Demon King's power was absolute. The Demon King was confident that he could give him more than what the Emperor gave him, no matter what he wanted.
He felt like he wanted to push a little harder and get a definite answer, but...
'I can only push this far.'
If he pushed harder, he might lose his mind.
The Demon King obediently retreated.
"So, think carefully."
Deon turned around without saying a word when he gestured for him to go.
When he reached the door with just a few steps to go, the Demon King added to his back as if he had forgotten one thing.
"You are welcome back, but the stigma will not be removed."
"..."
Knowing that he should consider himself fortunate that nothing other than the location tracking function was added to the stigma, Deon answered in silence and opened the door.
[1] This break was not here in the original text. I added it to make the shift in perspective clearer. Hope all the breaks in this chapter aren't too bothersome.
[2] For anyone confused: here is referring to the Demon King's and the Emperor's unspoken bet about what side Deon Hardt would choose. Remember, the unspoken rules were that neither the Demon King nor Emperor could directly influence his choice, so by asking Deon Hardt to finally choose and try to influence Deon to come on the Emperor's side, the Emperor effectively gave up the bet.