CH 322

Judging by everything I just heard, things were quite serious in the Demon World.

“Well, please do your best, Demon Kings.”

It would not be like that.

When Demon Kings fought, Lesser Demon Kings would drop like flies.

The effect they had on their surroundings was too severe.

For instance, if one Demon King died.

The Demon King who defeated him would take all of his lands…if he could. But some would rebel.

They would either flee to another country or try to fight. Or they would become independent.

If they did escape to another country, they might kill the Lesser Demon King who ruled there, and gather their strength.

Of course, the Lesser Demon King would fight back.

Everything would be fine if they won.

But if they lost, then that Lesser Demon King’s subordinates would then have to decide, flee, serve, or go independant… The area of fighting would continue to increase and repeat endlessly.

Up until now, the Demon Kings had been keeping everyone in check.

Once the balance crumbled, then everything would move in a straight line.

If the road to becoming a Great Demon King had been opened, they would move forward. And the other Demon Kings would try to crush them.

An even larger battler would be waiting.

“…Damn it.”

That was the kind of situation that the Demon World was in.

As I troubled over this, Tralzard said, ‘You just came back to life. And so you should rest.’ And then she left the room.

But it wasn’t as if I was troubled because I came back.

That being said, there was nothing I could do. And so I just nodded.

Apparently, Tralzard felt indebted to me because I had stopped the Wild Hunt’s ambush.

That was fine. But it was incredibly awkward to have a Demon King fuss over you.

Now that I was alone in the room, I tried to move my body.

In the Demon World, life and death were simple.

If you moved, you were alive. And if not, you were dead.

And so they had not been able to imagine that I was in a comatose state…a vegetable.

“…Hmm. I seem to be fine.”

I sent mana throughout my body, but everything seemed to be in working order.

My guess was that the mana in me had helped keep my body in good condition.

I had no proof of this, but mana was a very beneficial thing for residents of the Demon World.

You couldn’t live without it. And if you were low, then you would not be able to move.

So on the other hand, perhaps if you had enough mana, it would protect your body even if you were unconscious.

As I strengthened my body and moved, I heard footsteps coming from the other side of the door.

“Sir Golan…?”

One of the castle soldiers appeared with Rig.

“It’s been a while, Rig. How have you been?”

“I should be the one to ask you that… What are you doing?”

“Training?”

I was hanging from the ceiling beams.

I had mana covering the tips of my fingers. It was training for partial body strengthening.

Yamato had used it during our fight.

It took me a while to realize it, as I was in a vessel, but it was very useful.

While I was strengthening my entire body, Yamato only strengthened certain parts.

“More importantly, Rig. I thought you all returned to our country already.”

Yes, why was he here?

“I heard that you had come back to life, Sir Golan. And so I stayed here. And then, of course, things became very bad. And I didn’t know what to do.”

While he wanted to make a decision, I was sleeping.

And so he couldn’t move or act.

What would he have done if I kept sleeping for several years?

“Well, that’s fine. There is something that I want to talk to you about…and I have some questions as well. So let’s talk.”

“Very well. Ask me what you want.”

Rig was a capable Adjutant. I always relied on him.

“First I want to confirm something. You realized that I was still alive because of the Tablet of Control, right?”

“Yes. Demon King Tralzard had a record of all the names that were on it. And the record is rewritten whenever the number of names changes.”

“I heard that. She wanted to make sure that Nehyor was really dead.”

“Occasionally, there are Vampires who are very difficult to kill. And so one must be cautious.”

Yes, there are times when you think they are dead…only to be proved wrong.

Well, in novels, anyway.

In the Demon World, the Tablet of Control was absolute. You could not fool it.

“So, Nehyor really is dead. Is that right?”

“Yes. His name is gone from the Tablet of Control. And your name has been added to it.”

Apparently, my name hadn’t been on it before that.

“So it’s like we traded places.”

Defeating Nehyor was what caused me to rise to Lesser Demon King.

It wasn’t because of my evolution. It was simply the fact that I had defeated someone who was stronger.

“I see… That’s how I escaped being buried. That was close.”

I had received a lethal wound and died.

That’s what I had thought. And I had even gone to the Under World.

I suppose it was something like the phenomenon of a near-death-experience that humans sometimes face.

So I had gone to the Under World while my soul was still connected.

A hole had opened up, and I was sucked into the Under World.

Now that I thought about it, if I had really died, it wouldn’t be a ‘hole opening,’ but more like falling into the Under World by force.

Well, I couldn’t confirm it, a hole opening up didn’t necessarily mean you would fall into the Shadow World.

The Celestial World, Demon World, Human World. In both the past and present, it would not be surprising if there were people who escaped going to the Under World.

If you were just sucked into some hole, then there were too many uncertain elements.

While it was a lethal wound, my head was connected by a strip of skin.

Something like that.

I would have died if left alone.

Everything would have ended without me coming back. But that didn’t happen because…

“I’m a Lesser Demon King…”

“Yes.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“Sir?”

At this level, the amount of mana you had did not determine the outcome of a battle.

Combat experience, your opponent, how you could use your special abilities. All of that was important.

I would not be able to live peacefully in this wild world.

Strong enemies would make a line in order to fight me.

And I suppose I would meet them head on.

In order to protect those behind me, I would go forward.