After the Demon Lord healed the young boy, he wrapped him in his black cloak and cradled the child in his arms. The little hero, now slightly more conscious, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, clutching the fabric of the Demon Lord’s chest and timidly looked up at him.
“What on earth are you saying? Have you lost your mind? Your Majesty, there must be limits to your capriciousness! Protecting a hero, it’s simply the most absurd joke in the history of the Demon Lord!” Ziyuan, being a demon himself, naturally had a high sense of pride, and he couldn’t fathom this most ludicrous spectacle in demon lord history. How could the Demon Lord be so protective of their archenemy?
The surrounding soldiers also grew restless, even shouting, “If Your Majesty can’t do it, let me handle it!” in their self-righteous bravado.
The Demon Lord remained silent, ignoring the commotion around him. When he noticed that the child was continuously staring at him, he lowered his head, smiled, and asked, “Do you have a name? What should I call you?”
The young hero stared directly into the Demon Lord’s dawn-colored eyes, tightly pressing his lips together.
Seeing that the child had no intention of responding, the Demon Lord didn’t press further. Instead, he continued, “I’ve given myself a name, it’s ‘Thrett Fyndrilval Ellyad,’ but you can just call me Thrett. Now, where is your village?”
The young hero shook his head and then let out a small sneeze on the dark cape of the Demon Lord.
Observing this, the Demon Lord removed a grey scarf from around his neck and carefully wrapped it around the child, making sure to tie it up in a neat bow.
Onlookers among the demonkind were on the verge of exploding with anger, but the Demon Lord couldn’t be bothered to listen to their advice. Unable to contain his frustration any longer, it was Ziyuan who first burst out. He had not only served the Demon Lord the longest but also possessed powers surpassing the demonkind and was beneath only the Demon Lord himself in rank. This, along with a strong sense of self-worth, momentarily made him forget the hierarchical structure and vent his anger at the Demon Lord, shouting, “You’re absolutely unreasonable! Please, just kill that cursed thing!” As he yelled, he reached out toward the child. However, in the next instant, Ziyuan’s movement came to an abrupt halt, and he froze, not daring to move an inch.
The Demon Lord was just silently watching him.
Cold sweat trickled down Ziyuan’s forehead, slid across his cheeks, and dripped from his chin to the ground. He realized that not only his forehead but also the back of his neck, his back, and even the back of his hand were now covered in perspiration. His fingers trembled from the fingertips, and a dark, swamp-like fear was dissolving his senses and thoughts. He felt as though he was being devoured by something, a powerful and overwhelming force that was explosive, chilling, and profoundly dark. It clenched his heart, causing it to beat irregularly.
In his panic, Ziyuan lifted his head, and the Demon Lord continued to gaze at him, a glint of pride in his eyes as he smiled smugly.
“This person is undoubtedly our… Demon Lord.” The fear that had spread through him made Ziyuan tremble, and he involuntarily shut his eyes tightly. Finally, he deeply understood why the Demon Lord was the Demon Lord. Whoever it was should bow to his overwhelming power and not dare to challenge his invincibility.
“Y-Your M-Majesty… please f-forgive your humb… humble servant’s impertinence… p-please forgive!” Ziyuan stammered, his teeth chattering.
As the initial bindings that had enveloped their bodies were released, Ziyuan gasped for air, only to realize that he wasn’t the only one affected. The other soldiers had also suffered; some were down on one knee, gasping for breath, while others sat pale-faced on the ground. There were even those who clutched their chests, having fainted.
The Demon Lord then, with a serene smile, said, “I simply don’t want anyone to interfere with what I want to do. That’s all.” After speaking, he extended his hand towards Ziyuan.
Ziyuan instinctively recoiled in fear, and a momentary trace of mockery passed through the Demon Lord’s eyes. However, his smile quickly suppressed that emotion. He reached out and pulled Ziyuan to his feet.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Time to get up, my excellent pet caretaker,” the Demon Lord teased.
“Qtb’r j qfa mjgfajxfg? P jw sbeg jrrlrajca,” Ilsejc gfabgafv, tjralis gfujlclcu tlr mbwqbregf, vfafgwlcfv cba ab vlrqijs atf rjwf kfjxcfrr yfobgf atf geifg bo atf Gfwbc gjmf.
“Cigluta, ifa’r ub olcv atlr ilaaif bcf’r nliijuf!” Ktf Gfwbc Obgv tfiqfv atf sbecu tfgb rla lc atf rjvvif, erlcu tlwrfio jr j yjmxgfra.
“Considering human nature, someone should have come looking for such a small child rather quickly. Therefore, I believe it would be wise to leave him where we found him. It might save us a lot of trouble,” Ziyuan advised.
“But, in reality, it seems that no one has come looking for him,” the Demon Lord noted.
“I think it’s because of the First Snow Festival that no one noticed the child falling down the cliff,” Ziyuan suggested. The young hero lowered their head and remained silent.
“Is that so? I thought he was some kind of pet’s snack,” the Demon Lord said with a laugh, reaching out to ruffle the child’s hair.
“Please try to think beyond the Demon Lord perspective for a moment and look for an answer. This child, born as a hero, must be treated with utmost care by humans and cannot possibly be seen as food for any creature! There must be some other reason…” argued Ziyuan, stubbornly determined to find an explanation.
“But he doesn’t seem like a child who’s been well taken care of, does he?” The Demon Lord lifted the small hero slightly, revealing his tattered clothes and numerous old scars.
“That makes sense,” Ziyuan agreed as he looked the child up and down.
The small hero found himself caught in the playful interaction between the two, unable to resist, and only seeking refuge within the Demon Lord’s cloak.
Just then, a strange noise interrupted the conversation between the Demon Lord and Ziyuan.
“What was that sound just now?”
“I couldn’t make it out either,” both of them scanned their surroundings to find the source of the peculiar noise, while the young hero curled up secretly.
“Gurgle gurgle gurgle,” this time the sound was even louder than before, and the child was startled by the noise coming from his own stomach, making himself shrink even smaller.
“Ah…”
“Mm.”
The eyes of the Demon King and Ziyuan repeatedly roamed over the young hero, and then they burst into laughter. The hero blushed deeply, clenched the reins tightly, and curled up into a small ball, all while his stomach kept rumbling.
“Was that you making that noise? What does that sound mean?”
“Your Majesty, that’s the sound a human’s stomach makes when they’re hungry. Basically, it happens to most living beings.” The Demon King, who could survive without eating, didn’t understand that any creature could experience hunger pangs. So, Ziyuan briefly explained to him.
“Is your stomach hungry? What should I feed you? Can you eat demons?”
“Your Majesty! Only monsters and strange creatures would eat the demon race! And how can you suggest that someone should eat their own people?”
“Don’t you usually feed those few soldiers in the castle who eat our people?”
“That’s because there’s no other option. They’ve been completely spoiled by you, refusing to eat anything other than the demon race! It’s your responsibility!”
“Then let them continue eating the demon race to show responsibility.”
“Your Majesty!”
“Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle…” The rumbling sound interrupted their conversation once more, and this time, it was even more exaggerated, sounding like singing. In contrast, the young hero couldn’t control his growling stomach, getting so anxious that he was on the verge of tears.
“Haha! This little guy is quite entertaining.”
“But he’s just a hero, so let him starve.”
“By the way, what can this little guy eat?” The Demon King finally halted his teasing as he noticed the child’s blushing, trembling form, and decided to inquire.
“…I guess fruit should do.”
“Fruit, huh? Apples should be in season; let me check.” The Demon King looked around and rode towards a particular tree. “Is it this one?”
The tree was laden with abundant red fruits, large and plump, with a tantalizingly sweet fragrance. The Demon King picked a few and handed them directly to the little hero.
“Here, I don’t know what humans eat, so use these to fill your belly for now,” the Demon King said with a hearty laugh as he patted the hero’s head.
The hero first looked up at the Demon King’s smiling face, then lowered his head, holding a few apples and offering them to the Demon King.
“Giving them to me? You don’t need to do that; I don’t eat,” the Demon King pushed back the apples. He then gently smiled and urged, “All of this is for you; aren’t you very hungry? Go on, eat.”
Confused, the child tilted his head and then used both hands to pick up an apple. He squinted his eyes at the Demon King and flashed a shy smile before taking a bite of the apple.
“Ziyuan! This little guy, he’s smiling at me!” The Demon King exclaimed, excitedly shaking the nearby Ziyuan, nearly causing him to fall off his horse.
“Your Majesty, please calm down… But now that you mention it, we’ve never seen such a small hero before, and he seems to have no hostility at all,” Ziyuan responded.
Since Thrett became the Demon King, it has been around 300 years. During this time, there were also numerous previous Heroes who attempted to invade the Demon King’s palace. Most of them would shout things like, “Evil Demon King, today is your day to die!” or “You damned Demon King! Your days of disturbing the peace of the world are over. I, XXXX, am here to defeat you!” However, their fate was often sealed before they even encountered the Demon King personally, as they met their demise at the mouths of the Demon King’s many pets.
“I think there were around five of them, right?”
“In fact, there have been six of them. The sixth one… well, you were having an argument with Queen Lily at the time. You were both destroying the palace and attacking each other, and coincidentally, the debris from the palace hit the sixth Hero who had come to invade. We only discovered it later while cleaning up the palace,” mentioned Ziyuan.
Lily, or Queen Lily, is the spirit that the Demon King’s castle is dependent on, essentially the core of the castle itself. Normally, Rea takes on a beautiful and alluring female form when active within the castle and often quarrels with the Demon King. However, their relationship is quite harmonious.
“Seems like this little guy is quite the slow eater,” losing interest in the previous topic, the Demon King redirected his attention to the Hero. Watching the Hero delicately nibbling on an apple with small hands, only about half the size of the apple, he casually remarked.
“Please, don’t think that eating means swallowing him whole. He’s not like those castle monsters; he’s just an inept human Hero,” Ziyuan carefully examined the little fellow before him. The rosy cheeks revealed the child’s age and innocence, despite the wings on his back.
However, Ziyuan remained puzzled, not understanding what it was about this weak and helpless Hero that the Demon King found so endearing, to treat their arch-nemesis with such care on their first encounter.
Not long after, shouts from the soldiers in the distance signaled that they had found a human village.
“The efficiency of my soldiers is quite impressive,” the Demon King praised, to which Ziyuan retorted, “Of course it is. But who assigned the duty of training the soldiers in the first place?”
“I must say, Ziyuan, you should consider a career change to become the Demon King!” The Demon King gave Ziyuan’s back a hearty pat, nearly causing him to “fall off the horse” for the second time.
The power of the Demon King is inherent and has nothing to do with talent or potential. It’s not something you can become just by wanting it, nor can you achieve it with a thousandfold effort. It’s a genuine destiny.
“If I were the Demon King, you’d be my first target, I guarantee it,” Ziyuan replied calmly, adjusting his posture and settling back onto the horse. Behind him, a dark aura began to emanate, accompanied by a brilliant smile.
“Wait, I think there’s something black coming this way, something black is coming over here! Hey, Ziyuan, Ziyuaaan!”
Thank you for the chapter (´,,•ω•,,)♡
<3 I already love this and I’m dreading catching up.