"My King, where is the enemy?"
Reji: "."
Seeing the Sorcery Demon now, as if ready to perform a transcendent ritual at a moment's notice, Reji felt a twitch inside but maintained his composure outwardly, calmly responding to the Sorcery Demon:
"Dian, there are no enemies here, no need to be tense."
Then Reji immediately turned his head and asked Shermen, who had a similarly calm expression on her face, with an interrogative look:
"Shermen, I only asked you to notify them to come over, right?"
Reji thought Shermen might have exaggerated the message.
But Shermen looked innocent.
"My King, I indeed relayed your words in full, without omission."
Reji understood the Shadow Demon's meaning.
That is, not a word less, but also not a word more of explanation.
'Alright. That's very Shermen'
It was probably because Shermen's message was so succinct, and because he added an emphasis on "immediately" at the end, that led the Sorcery Demon and Wisdom Demon to misunderstand.
Especially the Wisdom Demon Leo!
Thinking of this, Reji immediately asked, "Dian, where is Leo?"
Before the Sorcery Demon could answer, knocking sounds came from outside the basement.
Following that, the Wisdom Demon Leo, dressed in formal attire as if he had just rushed over from some banquet, holding a bell, appeared in front of Reji.
And closely following behind Leo, as Reji glanced over, were hundreds of people from the entire Count's manor, including maids, servants, and guards.
These people seemed to have their consciousnesses seized and controlled by the silver bell in Leo's hand, forming neat rows and following behind Leo with utmost respect.
"I apologize for my tardiness, my king".
the Wisdom Demon immediately apologized to Reji upon his arrival.
"It's fine."
Reji signaled for Leo to stand up.
He then took another look at the hundreds of Count's servants behind Leo and then at the legendary item in Leo's hand, the Soul Bell, capable of exerting powerful "mind control" and stripping control from units below level 40.
Now it was used on these servants, probably none of whom were above level 10.
'WellLet it be'
The [Army of the Undead] summoned by his side from the Sorcery Demon consisted of a skeleton legion, each averaging level 60.
Reji doubted whether there was even a single human in the entire Ilinor Royal City who could be level 50, let alone within Vedler's Count's manor.
Of course.
Reji had no intention of blaming Leo or Dian for anything.
Instead, this further showed how truly loyal and supportive the Wisdom Demon and Sorcery Demon were towards him as their Demon King. Merely the word "immediately" had made them so anxious, fearing for his safety, to put up such a grand display.
In any case, Reji first asked Dian to retract those seventh and eighth-tier barrier sorceries.
"I..."
Shermen ultimately didn't retort to anything, as the Wisdom Demon was indeed correct, it was her fault.
She was used to acting alone, so when it came to caring for others, especially for the demon king, she indeed thought too little and too poorly.
"I requests that your Majesty discipline Shermen, to prevent such incidents from happening again. This can also serve as a warning to the other apostles."
After scolding Shermen, Leo immediately turned around and suggested to Reji.
If the Demon King is the head of a household, and the nine apostles are the servants, then the Wisdom Demon's role is akin to that of a steward among the servants.
Before Reji could say anything, Shermen, seemingly filled with guilt, began to punish herself voluntarily.
Seeing Shermen mimic Ariel's posture, also crawling towards Reji, kneeling and prostrating with her buttocks raised, adopting the same position as Ariel, the human, seemed to be a way for her to remember this lesson.
If she watched a human ranting beforeher king without doing anything, then her punishment should be the same as this human's, even though she is a powerful apostle.
Noticing that Reji seemed about to tell Shermen to rise, intending to "exempt" her, Leo immediately stepped forward, addressing both Shermen and Reji:
"My King, your upcoming council cannot proceed without a seat."
Indeed.
There wasn't a single stool in the basement, only the torture devices that were part of Ariel's perverse hobbies.
But what did Leo mean by that?
Change locations?
Reji was initially puzzled, but then Shermen quickly understood, without showing any shame. She crawled over to Reji and, in front of him, arched her petite body into the shape of a chair.
Reji suddenly felt that being a king really could spoil one with the indulgence of subordinates.
'Sigh This is exhausting...'
Reji wouldn't actually punish Shermen. He definitely needed to protect Shermen, after all, this matter wasn't really related to her. It was all about him wanting to keep Ariel around to extract some information from the deranged young lady.
"Enough."
"Let's put an end to this meaningless quarrel, Shermen, rise. As for the punishment Leo mentioned, let's have Shermen recount the entire incident to Leo and Dian."
Of course, Reji wasn't that perverse.
Using a female subordinate as a chair or something, he couldn't do that!
But whether it was Reji's misconception or not.
After Reji "reduced" Shermen's sentence, did a trace of disappointment flash across the usually aloof and cold face of the Shadow Demon, as if her expectations were dashed?
'It must have been my imagination'
Following this, Shermen detailed everything that happened to Ariel.
After listening quietly, Leo adjusted his glasses, showing an expression that said, "Just as I thought"
Then he immediately said to Reji:
"My King, based on the intelligence from your side, I'm even more certain of a speculation of mine."
"After analyzing in the Chaos Rift, Eris has made a preliminary judgment about the 'egg.' Just like the elves that shouldn't exist in the human world, Eris has also detected from the 'egg'."
"The shadow of the Insect race."