Chapter 87: Choosing Sides

Juvia, who was on her way to the ladies restroom to avoid some bad social interactions, suddenly froze on the spot.

Then, a beautiful smile arced on her thin, pink lips. However, that hint of a smile quickly disappeared as she turned around and returned to the gathering spot.

After thinking about it, she decided to expand her circle of connections despite the discomfort of dealing with these leaders, as some of which had peculiar temperaments and disgusting personalities.

…

Hiro was very satisfied with Arabella's and Juvia's performance during his absence.

Since there was nothing to worry about in the human world, Hiro's focus returned to his main body as his consciousness withdrew from the immaterial domain.

With Medusa and Hans keeping him company, life was no longer monotonous in the Demon Realm.

As his immediate need for achievement points was resolved, Hiro treated his job as the Shopkeeper of the Passione Tavern as a pastime activity.

After the whole debacle with the heir of the Wilhelm family, Hiro's tavern caught the eye of many influential figures.

With more people of high status sauntering in and out of the bar, not only did the sales of the Bloodstained Glass increase, but Hiro also got his hands on valuable snippets of information.

With his analytical mind, he only needed to write down the information on paper once and he would remember it.

With slight effort, organizing the inferred information based on their value was easily accomplished.

During his free time, Hiro would walk around the stronghold one district at a time, occasionally providing enlightenment to stray demonic creatures in the vicinity of key positions around his tavern and the Demon Tower.

Of course, Hiro didn't forget returning to Asmir's private library to read and train, accumulating demonic energy, condensing and purifying it, all to increase his strength.

Hiro was enjoying the stability of this new life routine, and two weeks later, he was summoned to the throne room by Asmir once again.

…

In the familiar throne room, Hiro stood beneath the staircase of light and immersed himself in the familiar sensation of space being isolated.

"Tell me you've made some progress with your task. This seat is getting impatient, my important plans can't move forward without picking out the traitors in the dark."

Just like how Hiro didn't want to use up faith energy on something as trivial as contacting Arabella and Juvia so frequently, Asmir didn't wish to use up her faith energy on a few nameless flies.

Since she had capable subordinates, why not use them?

Hiro also guessed that this was the reason why Asmir called for him. Hence, he pulled out a parchment scroll from his coat's inner pocket.

"I've been observing the movement from every suspicious party in the last two weeks during my spontaneous visits in and out of the Demon Tower, and this here is a list of the crucial suspects.

"The list includes material and logical evidence, as well as a list of accomplices, middlemen, and instigators behind the scenes. Some of them were correct, cheated, or fooled into unwittingly becoming traitors."

Hiro wasn't wasting his time and his talent as a level 4 espionage agent the last two weeks.

Moreover, with his divine sense reaching the Tier-4 standards, it was easy for him to keep track of multiple suspects at once when they had left the Demon Tower.

Of course, Hiro's guarantor was none other than the system. The moment he found sufficient evidence on someone, the system would immediately evaluate his work and reward him with the corresponding achievement points.

Following this process, Hiro eliminated the names of those who didn't earn him any achievement points, but he kept tracking them to find the most suspicious individuals they'd been in contact with.

All of those suspects were marked as unwitting victims to greater schemes, and they're most likely sacrificial pawns used to misguide Asmir's investigation efforts.

If they could force Asmir to expend faith energy on such trivial matters, they'd consider it a win on their part.

As Hiro finished talking, the parchment scroll flew up from his hand and into the light on the staircase.

Hiro continued, "Among the higher chain of command, I can't investigate much, but I have a hunch that one of the six generals is a traitor. Of course, this matter will be left to Your Majesty's discretion."

Asmir took a look at the parchment and was stunned. The scroll was very thick when folded, which indicated how long the list was.

With the current strength of her consciousness, she easily scanned the entire list in a brief moment, but she was still shocked and infuriated by the large number of traitors.

Of course, the Demon Tower had hundreds of thousands of lowly demons, not to mention tens of thousands of noble demons walking in and out of the tower on a daily basis.

The confidants in the middle and upper sections of the tower are bound to have numerous interactions, countless even, and it was easy for some of them to be tempted.

It was already a miracle that the list included less than 1,000 traitors, but Asmir didn't seem to think so.

Especially when 13 of the traitors were demons with positions in the upper levels of the Demon Tower.

Asmir's fluctuating emotions seemed to affect the isolated space, as invisible ripples began to shake the surroundings.

Hiro frowned. "It's pointless to be angry about such things. Creatures seek survival first and foremost, and the only method to guarantee survival is one's own strength.

"This is a world that runs by the fist of the strongest, but you changed this fundamental law when you tried to force the culture of a different civilization on these demons.

"The weaklings among them would surely appreciate your kindness when they're weak and need your protection, but this same kindness will become a hindrance to their ambitions when they're strong enough.

"In ordinary times, no one would notice these small issues, but it's different when someone is deliberately fanning the flames of ambition in the heart of greedy, unrestrained, and unreasonable demons."

Hiro didn't wish to interfere, but he suddenly became enlightened by the prospect of building a stronghold in the Demon Realm.

To do that, he needed both territory and citizens from the Demon Realm.

In the future, he could get his hands on the core of a pocket dimension, infuse the demonic laws in his possession into it, and then create an isolated region of demons in his personal pocket dimension.

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That should be sufficient to upgrade his pocket dimension into a Minor Realm.

Hiro's plans didn't stop at that—he wanted to use one of his game vouchers to get his hands on laws correlating to the Netherworld, transforming the demonic region into something like a hellish prison.

Hiro was always fascinated with the lore of the harsh abyss which could serve as both a ground for training elites and a hole to punish the wicked.

Thinking about it, the more games he completed, the faster the expansion of his pocket dimension. Sёarᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The only issue was that the tutorial missions were already over, hence he couldn't get his hands on game vouchers anymore.

He only had two of them left in his inventory.

In the future, he could only rely on his luck to obtain discount vouchers from the lottery box and grind gems from interpersonal missions.

Since completing demo games will reward him with law fragments suitable for a dimension's core, would completing purchased games reward him with minor realm fragments?

It was something worth pondering. However, the difficulty of clearing Draconia was much greater than Hiro expected.

Since the lore was antagonistic to mythical races, Hiro couldn't use his racial abilities on a whim during quests, as that would constitute immediate failure.

Hiro's character in the game had the bloodline of a Void Dragon from the Magical Dragons branch.

Though it was of a similar branch to Juvia, her specialty was time magic while his specialty was space magic.

Another thing that made the game's difficulty so high was the seal on Hiro's bloodline.

It was a seal that would loosen gradually as Hiro's strength increased and his ability to conceal himself improved, which had the adverse effect of limiting his talent and potential on the surface during the early stages of the game.

This way, the powerful organizations and guilds ignored him, scorned him, and at worst times—outright bullied him.

It was too difficult to find friendly NPCs, build up a reputation, and find resources to both negate the seal's suppression and increase his strength.

Hiro's thoughts continued to wander aimlessly until he heard a light cough that buzzed in his head.

He immediately snapped back to the present, realizing that he was spacing out again.

"You're saying that the ensuing rebellion is this seat's fault?" Asmir's voice drifted over, clearly displeased.

Hiro didn't know how to respond, as that was indeed what he meant to say. However, he planned to make friends with Asmir, so he couldn't be too blunt about it.

"You thought too much, Your Majesty," Hiro clarified.

"Creatures strive for survival, the weak strive for strength, and civilizations strive for progress. It's just that Your Majesty's vision is too far for these short-sighted demons to realize your wisdom. The moment you decided on this path, it was destined to be a path of difficulty, blood, and slaughter!

"Your Majesty, those demons might not share your vision, but I do!"