100 Chapter 0100

Duke Mongrel

"Although we already had our doubts, to think that the king of Drisica had really fallen in the hands of devils."

Harold sighed. He was currently sitting at the head seat of the cylindrical dinner table. His expression showed bitterness as if he didn't want any more chaos in the empire.

"Yes, it is regretful, father. But we need to inform his majesty the emperor soon. We must send signals for retreat, or else the reinforcements sent there will die in vain. The devils aren't our only enemy. The Drisica kingdom is an enemy too, at least right now."

I said. I was really about 50,000 strong group that had been sent there. Although they were a mere faction of the empire's total army, they were still people. And this shitty Mayhem would definitely have given each and every one of them some type of backstory and their own emotions.

Their deaths would mean the death of thousands of intelligent lifeforms. No matter the world, it was an unacceptable thing.

"You're right. Rest today and leave for the capital city of Sahhan early tomorrow. I'll inform the king of your arrival in advance."

"Okay, thank you."

I took a sip of the delicious soup. The heavy broth and flavoury pieces of meat felt like absolute heaven.

"Umm, look here."

Ena asked, and I looked at her with a confused expression. She took the napkin that was placed beside her plate and slowly wiped off the soup that had spilt at the corner of my lips.

She did it with so much gentleness that I felt like I was in heaven.

Her eyes suddenly connected with mine, and she immediately backed off, blushing lightly. To think she would get so embarrassed from such a small gesture.

Ethra, the first open world of Mayhem, was a place with mediaeval settings. So the girls or all people in general, were more conservative. Ena's falling in love with me for saving her life and being so bashful just from cleaning my mouth. It all came from her upbringing.

—Burp!

I unintentionally burped, a habit I had which made me burp after eating a full meal.

Helena and Harold looked at me awkwardly. To nobles, manners maketh a man. And what I had done just now must be very unrefined to them.

Ena, who was trying to hold back her laughter, couldn't endure it and laugh. Harold and Helena followed after her.

"Sorry, Shura. It's just… you really enjoyed the food, right?"

Helena said as she slowly cleared the tear that had rolled out at the corner of her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for making you see such a sight."

"Don't be so reserved. We are all family here!"

I scratched my head embarrassedly, and the others smiled. Ena stared at me with an expression that made it seem like she'd eat me up happily.

'',

'So much for a reserved person!'

`Oh, c'mon. You don't want her to be reserved with her fiance, do you?`

Prolus commented.

***

"I'm sorry, your grace."

Katty apologised to the Devil sitting in front of her. He was a fat, large, dark-grey-skinned orc. His belly was so big that it seemed like it'd burst open any moment. His large belly button seemed as if it was swollen.

One of his pupils was green while his other pupil was totally white, with no signs of life in them.

He violently took a bite of the meat in his hand, some of the meat gets stuck in his yellow and dirty canine that stretched out from his lower jaw all the way above his nose.

His green eyes looked at the human brat in front of him, while his white eyes didn't move an inch.

"What are you sorry for?"

A heavy, hoarse voice escaped his mouth, much deeper than any orc that Katty had heard from.

He was the duke of the Devil's Kingdom, Darpal. He was also the duke who was guiding the invasion of the northern fortress of Drisica.

The Devil's had their own continent, the Southern Continent, but some of them had always lived in a part of the central continent. It was a fact that Sahhan and Kashan were the two Empires of the Central continent, but there were still kingdoms that weren't under any of these empires' jurisdiction.

The Kingdom of Devils, Darpal was one such kingdom. These devils had the intention of occupying the whole central continent along with the southern one, that's why, starting with the north to the end of the south, they had planned to unite the central and southern continents, becoming the first race to have two whole continents for themselves.

Of course, it was their mere illusion. There was no way they could fight with the joint alliances of the other powers that ruled the central continent. And the devils of the southern continent never considered the devils of the Darpal kingdom as someone of their own.

All this grand continent unification plan was solely the Darpal kingdom's while the devils of the southern continent wanted nothing to do with the people of the southern continent.

Duke Mongrel was part of such a futile kingdom and was a duke of the Darpal Kingdom. Unlike his appearance, he was one of the people who didn't care if the Darpal Kingdom took over the central continent or stayed the way it was. All he wished for in life was a healthy and peaceful life.

He was just a normal orc before he was captured by a devil who had collected various people from many races and done a ritual to turn everyone into a devil. That's how the devils expanded their forces.

In the end, it turned out Mongrel was one of those people that was extremely suitable to be a devil, and in anger, he ended up killing the person who turned him into a devil. Unable to go back to the central continent to his family and his tribe, he ended up staying in the Darpal kingdom and somehow ended up as a duke because of his immense power.

In this invasion, he barely had to do anything. All he did was lay around and eat in annoyance, eating being his sole solace in this accursed world.

"Someone from the empire had already discovered that we are controlling the king of Drisica kingdom."

"Is that so? That's bad, that's bad."

Mongrel said lazily, trying to show he cared when he actually didn't. This human dark magician and his own general were doing all the work that he was ordered to do, so he just lazed arounds whole day without doing a thing.

"Call Piglon."

'ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NovelB(i)n. ᴄᴏᴍ',

Mongrel said, and Katty snickered in her heart. She despised this fatty to the core. She was working for the devils and had become a dark magician so that she could finish her race advancement quest.

She didn't want to become a lower devil, and that's why she was trying to gain as many achievements as possible before going through a race evolution so that she could gain a higher background and could later on join the southern continent.

But this fatty was a big pain in the ass. He was the laziest NPC that she had ever seen, and he never gave her any worthwhile quest. To her, he seemed like a typical brainless villain who just liked to eat, drink and drown in pleasure.

Of course, she didn't want to become a devil like him. She had heard stories from many NPCs and other devils till now. The reasons the devils of the southern continent were considered a higher species compared to the devils of the central continent were endless.

But one key feature was that they were a race as rare and high as the elves of the eastern continent. The devils of the southern continent were all very powerful, and each and every one of them had some type of racial trait that differed from the others.

This was the main reason Katty was so attracted to this race. Unlike other races, the devils had a higher chance to inherit one or more racial traits, apart from the massive boost in stats.

Soon, she entered the tent with a human-sized, human-like walking pig. That was also an orc, an orc that was of inferior species and was turned into a demon. All inferior orcs had pigface.

"What is the situation right now?"

Mongrel asked, and Piglon replied.

"The situation is in our favour right now. If we tell the king of Drisica to retrieve all his personal soldiers, the soldiers of the empire won't last long, and we'd be able to easily conquer the kingdom once we are in.

"Oh?"

Mongrel showed a surprised expression. To think just his subordinate would be able to push in so much, it was a bit surprising.

"What about the casualties?"

Mongrel asked while knitting his brows, a frown appearing on his face.

"Hehe, don't worry, my lord. We have dozens of skilled necromancers at our side. The casualties are also a boon to us."

Piglon rubbed his three-fingered trotter. Mongrel despised this thing of the devils. They never let their subordinates die in peace and would even use their dead bodies to fight. Necromancers and Puppeteers were the people who usually used their bodies to fight their enemies.

"Alright then, proceed with the assault and try to keep the casualties at a minimum. You, Katty, go and tell the king to withdraw all his personal knights."

"As you command, your grace."

Both of them bowed a bit curtly and moved out. Mongrel scratched his giant tummy and thought about his family. Nobody apart from him knew that he had retained his consciousness even after becoming a devil. Because mostly all the devils are always under a spell that makes them forget their past and be obedient to the person who had turned them into a devil.

"For fucks sake, is there no happy ending for me?"

Mongrel cursed as he took out the novel that he had hidden behind his large body. Nobody knew that the great duke of the Darpal kingdom was actually an avid reader of novels with happy endings.

...

//DreamNote//

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