Chapter 33: A Season Spent in Hell (5)

There was a fair bit of pride in Vuffoet’s voice as he spoke. It almost sounded as if he believed he was the one who had brought the city up.

He was the type of person who projected his identity onto the company he worked for. Although it was somewhat silly for a mere employee to be so proud when he wasn’t even an executive, I disregarded it. Currently, the city scenery was much more interesting than the other party’s mental structure.

White villas were lined up side to side on both sides of the alley. There were several clotheslines that connected the villas like a spiderweb due to how narrow the alley was. Articles of clothing and blankets fluttered in the wind, making it seem as if they had coincidentally gotten caught here after having flown a long distance. As we walked down these maze-like alleyways, we would occasionally end up in rather spacious plazas. In most of these plazas, there were usually old demons having idle conversations on the benches.

“Hey! What sort of terrible reception is this!?”

I heard a loud voice come from a corner of the plaza. There was a small and shabby bar there. It was a bar that also had a side operation of being an open cafe, so I could see an old cat man kneeling in front of a young man.

“I apologize. Our shop is incredibly lacking…….”

“This damn cat. It’s natural that this backwater bar would be unappealing. You know, I graced this place with my presence because I was feeling nostalgic for this folksy atmosphere. Yeah? But what is this? The service here is a mess, the alcohol is lukewarm, and the tables are dirty. My mood has seriously been ruined.”

Even though messy service, lukewarm alcohol, and dirty tables are the very things that give off a folksy atmosphere, I retorted in my head. The old man is probably thinking the exact same thing. I could feel fierce hostility and hatred from the old man who was the owner of the bar.

Vuffoet lowered his voice and spoke into my ear.

“……I have guided you down the wrong path. I apologize for showing you an unpleasant sight. It would be best if you did not get yourself involved with that person.”

“There is no need to apologize. I’m the one who suggested we should come here. But why? Is that person a man of authority?”

“Rather than a person of authority, well, take a close look at his head.”

It was at that moment I realized. Even though I could sense the old cat man’s emotions, I couldn’t feel anything from the debauchee. I did as Vuffoet suggested and noticed a small horn sticking out of the person’s head once I examined it carefully.

‘Aha. I see.’

I understood now. I am unable to read the emotions of humans. However, excluding humans, there’s another race that I can’t read the emotions of.

“That individual is His Highness, Rank 72nd, Demon Lord Andromalius.”

Wow, this is my first time meeting another Demon Lord.

But.

“Don’t apologize with only your words, show your sincerity as well. Your sincerity! As expected of a cat person, you only know how to cry out noisily like a cat in heat at night, huh?”

Andromalius kicked the old cat man’s flank.

……His demeanor was no different from some neighborhood hooligan. I’m also lacking in dignity and prestige to an embarrassing degree, but I was still much better than this Andromeda or Andromalius guy. It seems I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, as I saw Vuffoet shake his head.

“Even humble dive bars like that have at least one or two organizations backing them. Normally, if you persecute a bar owner like that, then their backers will come to retaliate.”

“But they can’t do anything since he’s a Demon Lord?”

“That is correct.”

Vuffoet shook his head in disappointment.

“His Highness Andromalius lives here in Niflheim. He is usually always causing trouble like this.”

“He lives here? What about his Demon Lord castle?”

“He left it to his subordinate and is spending all of his time playing around here instead. According to the rumors, His Highness Andromalius’ Demon Lord castle is like a large coal mine. Goblins gather magic ores nonstop and he spends the money he makes from them for luxuries and pleasures here in Niflheim.”

Dear God. A typical vice. So there are Demon Lords like him.

“He especially enjoys casinos, but they say that he lost 10,000 gold a few days ago at one. Naturally, the goblins in his dungeon had to mine all day and night in order to make that 10,000 gold.”

“A piece of trash through and through.”

“An appropriate expression.”

In the game <Dungeon Attack>, Andromalius appears in the tutorial. He has the role of getting cut down by the protagonist’s sword. He only has a couple of weak goblins for subordinates, so he gets beat by a level 1 hero, but apparently, he also has this kind of backstory. I thought I was the weakest Demon Lord up to this point, but it seems that I’m actually a nobleman.

If he lives, then he’ll just give the hero some free experience points, so wouldn’t it be better if I killed him here? The event with Andromalius is also the main thing that awakens the protagonist’s potential as the hero.

‘Status.’

I decided to check his status just in case.

‘Puha!’

He’s stupidly weak!

Dear Lord. A level 1 lowest-tier golem’s stats are 7/5/5 (stamina/attack/defense). To put it in simple terms, Andromalius possesses stats that are much lower than that of a lowest-tier golem. Even if he’s a Demon Lord, I didn’t understand why the citizens of Niflheim would let such a weak bastard like him behave however he wants.

“Why are you leaving that kind of cockroach alone?”

“Pardon me, Your Highness, but His Highness Andromalius is still also a Demon Lord.”

“All I can say is that it is foolish if you are putting him on a pedestal simply because he is a Demon Lord. Be it a king or a civilian, all must prove one’s own worth. That man is nothing more than a swine who does not deserve the title of Demon Lord.”

Vuffoet opened his eyes wide in surprise.

“……You are right. Nonetheless, by nature, we demons cannot retaliate against Demon Lords.”

“By nature?”

“I see you were not aware. The instant a demon tries to become hostile towards a Demon Lord, they will experience intense pain. The pain is so extreme that they cannot even move a finger.”

What?

This was a shock. Doesn’t this mean that Demon Lords will never get rounded up in the demon world? Not only would humans never invade the demon world, but even if they did, it is highly unlikely that they would get this far and capture Niflheim.

In other words, Demon Lords are literally monarchs in the demon world. Did <Dungeon Attack> have this sort of setting? Even as a big fan of the game, I didn’t know about this at all.

‘Uh……wait. I do remember something.’

Around the mid-late portion of <Dungeon Attack>, there’s an event where a certain Demon Lord’s officer joins the main character’s party. It’s a very cliche event where an officer ends up falling for the protagonist while fighting against them. The officer being a beauty is a given.

There’s a scene where the officer cries out pathetically and claims that, ‘I possess a body that cannot retaliate against Demon Lords’. Thus, the hero utilizes an especially powerful slave emblem to make the officer listen to only his commands. Afterward, the officer becomes a, well, a type of person who occasionally offers her body to the hero for sex……but in any case.

‘So that’s why she couldn’t resist.’

I simply thought that the officer had some sort of curse placed on her. It doesn’t seem farfetched for there to be a curse that prevents people from being hostile towards Demon Lords. She was only a side heroine, so I didn’t pay that much attention to her, but looking back at it now, it seems there was an important plot point hiding within her event.

‘So there was another reason why those goblin tribes couldn’t retaliate against me properly!’

When I subjugated the goblin tribes around the slash-and-burn villages, the goblins just fell over weakly. I thought it was because my golem unit was powerful, but it was actually because they couldn’t struggle against me properly since I’m a Demon Lord.

This was some incredible info.

I quickly turned the bolts in my head. The number of strategies I could use had increased in an instant. For example, let’s think about the goblin tribes. I could threaten the goblins and make them assault specific villages. The more they resist my command, the more they’ll be enveloped by pain, so they’ll have no other choice but to listen to me because of the pain.

Hah, I came to this city for the sake of recuperating, but I managed to obtain some vital piece of information.

“Even that cat man, the owner of the bar, far surpasses His Highness Andromalius in terms of strength. However, like that, he has no other choice but to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness. Demon Lords are an existence that could become that cruel.”

I could feel hatred from Vuffoet.

I was the same. The heavier the old cat man’s hostility became, the more hatred I felt towards Andromalius as well. Normally, I would just wait and observe to calm myself down, but since the opposition was a small fry among small fries, I didn’t feel the need to suppress my emotions.

“I am curious. Is there no way for demons to fight back against Demon Lords?”

“Generally, that is the case. The only ones who can be hostile towards Demon Lords are other Demon Lords. Oh, those lowly humans can also be hostile towards Your Highness.”

Vuffoet chuckled. It was close to a smirk.

“…….”

I fell into deep thought for a moment.

Demon Lord Andromalius is a trash mob that appears in the tutorial of <Dungeon Attack>. He leads an army of goblins and fearlessly assaults the protagonist’s village, which results in his parents and little sister being slaughtered along with the rest of his village. It was simply misfortunate that the main character’s village was located near Andromalius’ dungeon.

That was definitely an event that happens 7 years before the start of the game. In other words, something that will happen roughly 3 years from now. After losing his family and village abruptly, the protagonist is coincidentally picked up by a rank A adventurer party called 『White Wings』 and he raises his ability as the youngest member of the party and gains companions. 7 years later, he invades Demon Lord Andromalius’ dungeon. Naturally, as Andromalius is nothing more than a trash mob, he gets swept away just like that.

“Vuffoet. Is Demon Lord Andromalius under the protection of a faction?”

“No, he is not. Similar to how the Keuncuska Firm is supporting Your Highness Dantalian, His Highness Andromalius used to also have firms that supported him; however, they have all retracted their support now.”

Hm.

“Are there any Demon Lords that either like or are close to Andromalius?”

“No. Even among Demon Lords, Andromalius is of ill repute. It is just how Your Highness Dantalian had commented earlier, he is similar to a piece of trash. But Your Highness,”

Vuffoet tilted his head.

“If it isn’t discourteous to ask, may I ask why Your Highness is asking these questions?”

“It’s nothing special.”

I chuckled.

“I simply thought it was amusing to know that he is an individual whom no one would care about whether he disappeared or not.”

“……Your Highness.”

Vuffoet’s pitch went up by a single octave in surprise.

“Don’t tell me……?”

“Would you look at this! If it isn’t the underling of the great Keuncuska Firm’s old chief.”

At that moment, Andromalius’ voice was directed towards us. The fact that the two of us were whispering about him from a distance most likely bothered him. Andromalius kicked the old cat man’s head with his right foot before spitting on the ground and walking towards us.

Vuffoet bowed.

“Greetings, Your Highness Andromalius.”

“Aren’t you awfully formal? Huh? It must be tough moving around as a bat bastard’s hands and feet all day and night. Come to think of it, you’re also a bat bastard, aren’t you!? Dearie me, I forgot. Sorry. Referring to vampires as bat bastards has become such a habit, that I wound up blurting it out accidentally. Will you forgive my small mistake? Huh?”

Wow. I could vividly feel a boiling emotion next to me. Vuffoet was currently boiling like water that had been left on a stove for a whole hour.

“……Of course, Your Highness. How could I possibly debate whether Your Highness has made a mistake or not.”

Despite this, there was no particular change in his facial expression. As expected of a merchant. Lapis is the same, but it seems the employees of Keuncuska are all talented at managing their expressions. No, wait, Lapis doesn’t have any expressions to begin with.

“Yeah, yeah. Life is like that. Huh? You can’t look down on others just because you have a pinch of authority. You bat bastard, I’ve been watching you for a long time, but you have quite the rotten personality. You’re arrogant. You think you can underestimate Demon Lords just because you’ve touched some gold? Huh?”

“……I will bear it in mind.”

Vuffoet’s emotions evolved from a pot of water to a cauldron.

“But who’s that man next to you? He’s built like a beanpole and he has a sullen look on his face. His insides are also empty. Huh? I thought I was looking at some sage.”

“This is His Highness Dantalian. He has traveled here in order to participate in the Walpurgis Night which will be held soon.”

“What? His Highness?”

Caution filled Andromalius’ gaze. He turned his body completely towards me. He then carefully offered me a handshake.

“Ehem, I apologize. I ended up being rude.”

His way of speech changed in an instant. I couldn’t read his emotions, but I could tell what was on his mind like the back of my palm. Andromalius is the lowest ranking Demon Lord. He was worried that he might embarrass himself by messing with a Demon Lord with a much higher rank than him.

I smiled as I returned his handshake.

“Think nothing of it. I have always wanted to meet you, Sir Andromalius, as I have often heard about your reputation, so I am glad I was able to meet you like this.”

“What reputation is there to mention? Uhm, pardon me, but……may I ask what rank you are, Sir Dantalian? As I have never had much interest in the matters regarding our fellow kind, I don’t seem to remember you, Sir Dantalian.”

Really? It seems he doesn’t know the names of his relatives when there are only 71 of them. It’s impressive that he managed to stay alive for this long. Well, he’s probably slacking here in Niflheim and not back in the human world because he knows this.

“To my shame, my prestige resides at rank 71st.”

“What? Rank 71st?”

Andromalius’ face contorted. Was it because he realized that I was a Demon Lord that was only one rank above him? His demeanor changed instantaneously again.

“Ha, you’re just a piece of trash!”

***

TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Releases will slow down slightly as my finals are later this week and next week. I still have 2 more presentations and an assignment left to do, so I’ll have to take care of that within the next few days. In any case, I’ll try to translate as much as I can do during my downtimes.